Learnings from the LGBTQ+ community

I had the pleasure of attending an ‘in person’ event yesterday, hosted by CFC and Link (the LGBTQ+ Insurance Network), in which British Olympic swimmer Mark Foster and insurance industry voices spoke about their experiences of coming out and its impact on mental health.

Aside from meeting some truly fantastic people, I took away a number of key lessons from the event, which I thought I’d share below:

1)?????The importance of language

Many of the speakers spoke about the importance of using more inclusive language (including not using recognised offensive terms – see recent stories involving Hollywood A-listers being corrected by their children – and to correct/call out those who do).

In addition, it’s important to signpost, as one speaker put it, that the individual is in a safe space at work to be their authentic selves. This could be as simple as, for example, not presuming that someone’s partner is of the opposite sex.

2)?????People in the LGBTQ+ community rarely have just one ‘coming out story’

Something that struck me yesterday was those in this community often “come out” several times during their life, and each time comes with its own concerns. The first time might be when they are relatively young, perhaps with a trusted friend or family member. The next time might be in more of a social network setting – to a sports team or set of friends for example. And then there’s the being 'out' at work conversation.?

Often, these levels of coming out are accompanied by increased confidence in themselves. Many of the panellists talked about how they transitioned from hiding it entirely to, “I’ll tell people if they ask me directly”, to “I’m comfortable introducing myself as LGBTQ+ without a prompt”.

3)?????Being able to bring their whole selves to work has huge benefits to the person - and their company.

Many of the panelists spoke about trust as the key issue here – until they trusted that they were in a workplace (or other social setting) where they wouldn’t be negatively affected by coming out, they found themselves putting up barriers which prevented others from fully trusting them. One panelist referred to this as a mirroring effect. ?

Not being able to full trust colleagues led to poorer relationships, poorer progression opportunities and a general unhappiness in the workplace.

One panelist also spoke candidly about how not being 'out' meant that they deliberately shied away from opportunities to progress, as they didn’t want to be in a spotlight where more focus on was put on them, which I found very moving.

Another spoke about the tiring nature of constantly having to scan a room to see if they could relax and be themselves, and the levels of anxiety that created for large periods of time.

Being in an environment where they were comfortable to be openly 'out' relieves all of that anxiety and frees up a significant amount of mental load, making the individual more capable of achieving success. Which is far better for the company too.

4)?????Allyship is SO important.

Alongside signposting, allies are encouraged to be more proactive in asking how they can help. One panelist expressed how happy they were that the CEO of their company had asked what more the firm could do to encourage a more open and inclusive culture for LGBTQ+ in the workforce and signed off a significant budget to help achieve those aims.

Another panelist also noted the importance of ensuring you establish the ground rules with individuals who have chosen to disclose their LGBTQ+ status – who is allowed to know about it, how would the individual like to be referred to, are they comfortable getting involved with other LGBTQ+ efforts or would they rather leave that to others?

I’m sure none of this is rocket science, but hopefully it’ll help keep the conversation going. I’m very keen to continue to learn more about best practice ways in which employers can make their workplaces more inclusive, so please do get in touch if you can help.

#diversity #inclusion #D&I #EDI #LGBTQ+ #management #leadership #executive