Moving toward allyship with impact
Designing a workshop for change
In 2020, there were a lot of conversations around race and allyship. I run my company’s Pride Roadshow initiative, a presentation series designed to educate on LGBTQ+ terminology, issues the community is facing, and ways to be a better ally.
I wanted to take this one step further and create an interactive workshop that fosters those conversations and encourages people to move beyond performative allyship (i.e. posting black squares without action, flying a Pride flag only during Pride month) and toward allyship that makes a real impact on the people in their lives, whether at home, at work, or in their communities.
From learning to action
The workshop begins with a 10-minute presentation focused on allyship terminology, intersectionality, privilege, and the difference between performative and impactful allyship.
Then we move into a 50-minute activity using three boards. Participants reflect on our guiding questions and prompts, write their thoughts down on sticky notes, facilitators group common themes, and together we have a conversation as a room about what we see.
Board 1: Participants reflect on their own privileges and engage in conversation, which helps people consider perspectives they may not have thought about before.
Board 2: Everyone shares examples of allyship they’ve experienced in different settings (at home, at work, in their communities) to help inspire new ways to show up for each other.
Board 3: Participants write down how they hope to be a better ally in the future.
I’ve had the privilege of seeing this workshop grow over the past 4 years, expanding from virtual to in-person. Along the way, I’ve co-facilitated it with my colleagues, creating spaces where people can reflect, learn, and take tangible steps towards real action.