How to Activate Allies and Advocates
20-minute Trend Talk
Day 2
Session Code: TT3-AWhen: April 6, 2022
Level: Intermediate
Track: Diversity Leadership
Presenter: Melinda Briana Epler, Change Catalyst
Description
Join Melinda Briana Epler, TED speaker, DEI activist, and author of “How to Be an Ally,” for this learning session on what moves people from fear and stasis to becoming active allies and advocates in your organization.
Melinda will share original research from a global Change Catalyst study on allyship showing what motivates people to become allies, how people best learn to be allies, and how allies impact individual careers as well as business results. Then she’ll walk through the Stages of Allyship, a behavioral change model for activating allies, advocates, and accomplices in the workplace.
Allyship is the key to diversity, equity, and inclusion inside our organizations and across our communities. In order to deeply improve representation and rebuild our workplace systems to be truly equitable, we need a critical mass of allies and advocates. This session will help shine a light on that path to building a critical mass of allies across your organization.
Learning Outcomes
• Understand how to recognize where people are along their allyship and advocacy journey
• Develop concrete strategies and resources to move people to the next stage of their journey
• Build the business case for programs that build empathy, educate, and activate allies and advocates