Unfiltered: The Critical Role of Male Allies
On January 27th WISe Wellness Guild hosted "Unfiltered: The Critical Role of Male Allies,” presented by Fifth Third Private Bank. This dialogue provided open space to discuss how men can play a crucial role to the retention of womxn in the workforce, both at work and at home. 1/4 women are considering leaving the workforce, and we are at risk of losing 6 years of progress in a single year according to McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2020 Study.
This event will be hosted by Stevi Gable Carr, Founder of WISe Wellness Guild and moderated by Kelly Soller, SVP Fifth Third Private Bank.
Guest panelists: Stacey Browning, Managing Director, , CincyTech, Richard Cooke, Director of Communications, P&G+ Owner e|19, Tim Elsbrock, Regional President of Fifth Third Bank (Cincinnati), Barbara Turner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ohio National Financial Services.
Our key takeaways:
By being “recklessly invitational”, men can invite womxn into "rooms” where decisions are being made. This approach places the decision on womxn to show up if they feel it would be beneficial.
The “Me Too” movement has (rightfully so) caused some male leaders to take a step back and reconsider their approach to mentorship. This vulnerable conversations led to incredible discussions about building relationships on trust and respect, and considering channeling supportive comments towards work and not a person’s personal physical characteristics. Many work socialization activities are rooted in “old boys club” behaviors- this can and will shift to accommodate female presence.
Womxn need to bring men along, asking for what we need.
Identifying bias behavior in the moment is the most kind thing you can do. By using language like “I noticed…,” “I’m curious…,” “what makes you think that?” when stepping into providing public or private feedback is important. My personal favorite: “I'm giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them”- a feedback phrase that is 40% more effective than traditional approaches.
We need to outsource and delegate. Focus on building a squad that includes men to help support the invisible load. Further, how can you do your part to de-stigmatize stepping away and re-entering when womxn are ready? Reach out to Best Upon Request to learn more about supporting specific groups in your organization. Check out Tarita Preston’s article on Boundaries here. See the important work Teresa Tanner is doing with Reserve Squad.
Organizations who have “ally toolkits” and ways to formalize visibility of allyship will be most successful in building allyship. “Ally” is a verb- there is no true playbook but only an actionable, progressive path forward towards change. A few pieces of reading below for your consideration:
How to Be An Ally to Women: 8 Action Items
Becoming an Ally: 6 Steps
Guide to Allyship by Rachel Cargle for supporting black women
Actionable Items:
4-Day Work Week: Author of “The 4 Day Week” Andrew Barnes Consider no meetings on Fridays for “life or work catch-up” time with free space for whatever your employees need.
No emails on weekends- if you’re writing them on the weekend, program them to send 10am on Monday morning. Here’s how to schedule an auto email in Microsoft Outlook.
Make space for movement and mindfulness a part of your culture. Home offices can become cages- send company-wide calendar reminders to empower people to invest in themselves. “Daily dance parties” as suggested by Liz Kitchell of SheMoolah sounds incredible!
If you’re serious about getting started reach out to Queen City Certified to learn more about work your organization can be doing to commit to gender equity.
We would love to hear from you: what would you want included in an Ally Toolkit that could best represent you? Comment below or send us an email hello@wisewellnessguild.com with your thoughts on how we can best support this important work.
More about Unfiltered
WISe Wellness Guild's "Unfiltered Series," powered by Fifth Third Private Bank is a forum to share stories of support, engagement and key learnings to pivot amidst times of extreme pressure and change. This event will be hosted by Stevi Gable Carr, Founder of WISe Wellness Guild and moderated by Kelly Soller, SVP Fifth Third Private Bank. Guest panelists: Stacey Browning, Managing Director, CincyTech Richard Cooke, Director of Communications, P&G + Owner e|19 Tim Elsbrock, Regional President of Fifth Third Bank (Cincinnati) Barbara Turner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ohio National