Allies assemble!

This is an edited version of my longer VIP newsletter, which you can read (and listen to) here.

October seems to be a month that’s stuffed to the gunnells with international awareness days, as well as being Black History Month, ADHD Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, LGBTQ+ History Month, and National Book Month.

I haven’t seen anything on LinkedIn about this week’s Global Handwashing Day, or the rather alarming-sounding World Anaesthesia Day, but there’s been plenty about World Menopause Awareness Day and the lesser-known International Pronouns Day. I particularly appreciate seeing male allies step into conversations about menopause and all things gender - three vocal male gender allies are Warren S. , Elliott Rae and Jeremy Stockdale , so give them a follow! And please do suggest additional male allies in the comments so that VIPs can support their posts.

Does having so many awareness days and months dilute their impact? Does it create empathy fatigue? How do we decide which issues to prioritise, and by doing so, which to deprioritise? Most corporate Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) have limited budget (if any) and finite attention from the business. So it’s a delicate balance to get right. As allies, we want to amplify all under-represented voices, but that doesn’t always feel possible. How do you manage it in your business? Share your suggestions below ??

Have you come across LinkedIn’s collaborative ‘how to’ articles? It starts with a basic, AI-generated take on a question such as ‘How can you avoid micromanaging your team” or ‘How can you improve the impact of your ESG initiatives?”, and experts from all over LinkedIn add their advice and suggestions. I’ve been having a whale of a time adding my two penn’orth to a variety of topics, as well as learning about a whole load of stuff and picking up practical tips from a whole load of people absolutely free.

With the world feeling as though it’s teetering on the edge of a precipice, allyship and compassion feel more important today than they’ve ever been. It feels like there isn’t much we can do as individuals to impact events in Israel / Palestine, but something is better than nothing. We can make our voices heard by writing to our elected representatives, we can give practical and emotional support to friends and family who are impacted by events, and we can donate to the charities that are working to bring humanitarian aid to those in need. Whatever your perspective, I’ll leave you with this quote from Albert Einstein:

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

That’s it for this week, VIPs - I’ll see you next time.

Rebecca

I’m Rebecca Berry, inclusion expert, leadership coach and writer. I help transform teams and organisations through non-judgemental coaching and insight facilitation. If you and your organisation are learning to embrace equity and inclusion, you need an expert facilitator to support and understand your unique starting point. That’s where I come in.

For coaching, writing, or guest expert enquiries, book a connection call here.