4 Tips to Move Beyond Performative Allyship and Become a True Advocate

More than a year after the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, companies worldwide have been engaging in discussions about race and many expressed their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Many posted a black square on the company Instagram page on Blackout Tuesday. Others pledged to fight discrimination. Still others vowed to increase their diversity. 

But now that more than a year has passed, have companies that “talked the talk” also started to “walk the walk”? Have they done more than simply engage in surface-level activism — or performative allyship?

In the midst of the Great Reshuffle, job seekers are looking for authentic employers, whose words match their actions. They want companies that not only speak out against injustice, but also hire a diverse workforce, help employees from underrepresented groups advance in the company, and give those employees greater representation in leadership roles. This is especially true of millennial and Generation Z job seekers. According to the 2020 National Association of Colleges and Employers survey of new college graduates, more than 79% of respondents called a diverse workforce “very important.” 

“It’s about putting in the work and going beyond performative allyship,” says Marta Riggins, an employer brand and employee engagement strategic consultant. “It’s work that has to be invested in and done year-round.”

Here are four ways your company can move beyond performative allyship to be an advocate.

1. Be transparent about how many of your employees are from underrepresented groups

To demonstrate that you’re “walking the walk,” your company needs to be transparent with data about its racial representation, says the Harvard Business Review. Many companies, such as LinkedIn and Citi, publish an annual diversity report that includes data about hiring, attrition, and leadership roles. 

But reporting basic numbers is only the first step. “Real transparency should also include measures of equity,” HBR says, “like a breakdown of representation of hiring by job level and promotion rates; defining representation in various leadership levels (midmanagement vs. senior); and results of climate surveys.” The article goes on to say that these additional data points can be strong indicators of economic equality and career progression for underrepresented groups. 

When you make your data transparent, it also helps your company hold itself accountable to diversity goals.

2. Rely on outside tools if you need them 

If your company isn’t sure where to start, you might find the Meyer Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Spectrum Tool useful. This tool helps your company look at its DEI vision, policies, infrastructure, data, and accountability. After conducting a thorough assessment, you can set company goals and compile the data you want to share.

Another way to demonstrate your authentic commitment to DEI work is to get your company certified by the Human Rights Campaign, which has a corporate equality index (CEI) that rates workplaces on LGBTQ equality. Marta believes this certification is an important benchmarking tool for companies.

“In order to get the certification,” Marta says, “you have to have a perfect score of 100.” In other words, you have to prove your commitment by demonstrating your corporate policies, practices, and benefits for LGBTQ+ employees. All CEI-rated employers, for example, explicitly include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in their nondiscrimination policies, and offer both domestic partner and transgender-inclusive benefits.

3. Be public about your goals — and own your shortcoming

As important as it is to share data, it’s equally important to state your goals publicly. “Without goals, leaders and organizations cannot hold themselves accountable for progress,” Laura and Megan write in the HBR article. “These goals should be made public to be meaningful.”

You should include goals such as the percentage increases you’re shooting for in hiring, promotion, and retention. You could also include your targets for wage equality, and how you plan to use investments to support diverse businesses and suppliers as well as social justice. Last year, for example, Sephora announced that it would increase its shelf space for Black-owned businesses from 3% to 15%.

And it’s OK to admit that your company has not yet met its goals. “Right now, there’s a genuine appreciation for organizations that share low metrics when it comes to diversity and inclusion,” Xochitl Ledesma, former director of leading for equity and inclusion at Catalyst, said in a company blog post, “as long as they share what they’re doing to address it. Transparency creates accountability.”

Even the famously progressive ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s admits to its low metrics. “Despite the fact that we have long championed racial equality through our activism,” its website says, “Ben & Jerry’s remains an overwhelmingly white company.” After this admission, the company quickly reaffirms its commitment to eliminating the company’s racial disparities and creating Black wealth through our business relationships.

4. Create incentives for leaders who practice inclusivity and disincentives for those who don’t

If you want your company to be an authentic advocate, reward leaders who practice inclusive leadership. This could include compensating employee resource group (ERG) leaders for their work (as LinkedIn and other companies have recently started to do) and giving their ERG work significant weight in performance reviews. It could also include linking executive compensation to diversity goals, as they’re beginning to do at Starbucks, Chipotle, and Wells Fargo.

But it may also be necessary to dole out, well, disincentives to leaders who don’t uphold company values or fail to meet stated diversity goals. This could mean not offering a promotion to an executive whose team lags in hiring or promoting underrepresented talent. And it could certainly mean firing someone who makes offensive comments.

Punishment isn’t fun but there’s a reason it’s important: It shows you take the work seriously. Carmen Morris, CEO of Kenroi Consulting, writes in Forbes: “When performative allyship embeds itself into organizational culture, particularly at leadership and managerial levels, it sends the signal that it is right to show affinity toward racial equality, but that it is not important to do much.” 

In other words, when leaders aren’t held accountable for their actions, employees from underrepresented groups feel like their experiences are being invalidated and that they have no power to change structures or systems that make it difficult for them to succeed. That’s probably not the message companies are looking to send.

Final thoughts: What’s good for business is good for people too

Companies take a risk when they engage in performative allyship; it can easily backfire and leave them painted as disingenuous. “The consequences are that it will hinder your ability to recruit and keep top talent,” Marta says, “and your consumers will also call you out.” By contrast, being an authentic advocate can foster credibility and trust.

“Real inclusion,” Carmen writes, “demands real actions, not an award-winning performance.”

*Photo by Barney Yau on Unsplash

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