Why It’s Important for Minority Communities to be Inclusive, Too
When my spouse and I came out in our early 30s – late, but happily, together – friends provided introductions to other gay people wherever we went, as if our sexual orientation alone created a sort of bond, a pretext for connecting with people with whom we may have little else in common. Which – it does.
Fast-forward 20 years. I now work closely with LBT+ women, as director of Out Leadership’s OutWOMEN initiative. At small dinners and large panel events across the US, Europe and Asia, I’ve had the same feeling serially that hundreds of LBT female executives have had since we started convening them in late 2015 at OutWOMEN events: near-giddiness, from simply being in a room full of out women business leaders.
Feeling like you’ve found your people is deeply powerful. It inspires deep connection, and focused conversations.
Most leading companies today work aggressively to facilitate connection and support among their minority communities, for that reason. Employees are most productive and engaged when they feel recognized and at home, when they can indeed be their ‘whole selves’ because they won’t draw negative attention for doing so.
LBT+ women are women who are also part of the LGBT+ community – they’re also sometimes women of color, and of disability --- and intersectional identities can often be challenging in corporate contexts. Feedback I’ve received suggests that, broadly speaking, out women find that neither the LGBT+ nor the women’s groups at their firms are the ideal venue for them to talk about their experiences. LGBT+ groups are often male-dominated – shocker – and women can feel marginalized; women’s groups, of course, are overwhelmingly straight, and the topic of orientation rarely arises. These groups don’t set out to exclude out women’s perspectives, but they don’t feel like home, either.
OutWOMEN is home, for these executives, as are the networks and friendships they develop in the community. It solves for a gap in the inclusion agenda. But that begs the question: How can companies take steps to be more welcoming to LBT+ women on an ongoing basis? What about LBT+ women business leaders working outside of large corporate structures? And what steps can women take themselves?
At HSBC’s headquarters in London in October, Out Leadership convened its second annual OutWOMEN Breakfast Panel to explore these questions together. Following remarks from LBT+ executives Sarah Odell and Emily Smith-Reid of HSBC; Pema Radha of EY; and Elaine Penrose of Hogan Lovells, the attendees broke into discussion groups at their tables. What follows are some suggested solutions, presented by individuals from the group. (Hogan Lovells’ Sian Owles closed it out.)
Unite through common interests
“Networks like to come together for common interests. Maybe our organizational networks, instead of focusing on our differences, could focus on similarities. We could have an event where everyone from every network was invited to the theater to see a play, and seek to unite people based on common interests, rather than through the common experience of feeling different.” – Amy Palmer, Trainee Solicitor, Simmons & Simmons
Empower everyone to speak to their identity
“I think it’s so important to give people the permission to really say: ‘This is who I am.’ It’s important to give that permission to everyone. You shouldn’t have to be really different in order to talk about your identity and your experiences. Giving people access to yourself and your experience is such a powerful thing.” – Emma Whalley, Director, PwC
Seek out groundbreaking role models
“We see a lot of role models from the corporate side of things, and we’re not really trying to find them in SMEs, or in the general everyday world. And possibly they would be quite powerful, because if they’re running a business, created a business, and they managed to do that with whatever their difference is, be it disability, or their LBT+ identity, or something else, they’re succeeding. And we need them to be visible too.” – Antonia Belcher, Founding Member/Partner, MHBC
Femininity is a spectrum, and that’s powerful
“We talked about how some of us felt uncomfortable in the women’s networks. Some of the women’s networks have a very “Us v Them” feeling. As in, it’s women against men. So, we talked about how we could break that down. And we talked about how bringing the women’s network, and the LGBT+ networks together so that women – so that everyone – can see that there are different types of femininity, and different ways of being a woman.” – Joanne Legge, IT Manager, BP
Process helps build culture
“The desire is there, and the momentum is with us. But the ‘how’ is missing. We talked about process. Lot of organizations have the right policies in place. But what we don’t have fully solved, yet, is the processes that sit behind policies. Are people saying the right things, doing the right things? Networks have an opportunity to help organizations here. Helping uncover the critical areas where execution isn’t matching up with intent, and helping educate the organization to make the change real.” – Birgit Neu, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, HSBC
Allyship makes us stronger
“We have to find allies. It’s all about being an ally to diversity of all kinds. Our LGBT+ network reached out to the to the Women’s Business Network, and we said – well, we have so much in common. They have a project called Parents at Work. And, well, parents don’t necessarily have to be straight, right? So we’re working with them, promoting them. And that helps us grow.” – Susan Dirk, Head CRC Lombard EMEA, UBS
Everyone has the power to create change
“Everybody here has the power, the ability to influence, and really bring about a positive impact. People often say: ‘I’m not a role model. I can’t really influence.’ But, everybody has some power, some knowledge, that other people don’t have. You’ve got the ability to lift people up. You’ve got the ability to bring people in. And the key is really thinking about how to use our power differently.” – Sian Owles, Partner, Hogan Lovells
Powerful words, from people intent on helping their firms – and the market – support and leverage the power of difference. Together.