“Active allyship should end up meaning that whatever an active ally was trying to achieve becomes normal. That it’s normal to see people from various ethnic backgrounds, from various sexual orientations, genders, disabilities, family situations, etc. in positions of authority or seniority in organisations.”
In Episode 16 of the ‘Why Care?’ podcast, I am joined by Marc McKenna-Coles, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DIB) Strategy Lead at Spotify, to discuss employee networks, collecting diversity data, and active allyship.
Marc has a BA in Theatre and spent around a decade working with Disney in their stores and on Disney Cruises. He later moved into the banking sector and discovered employee networks, soon heading up RBS’s – now the NatWest Group – gender network. He has had several DEI roles in the financial sector before recently joining Spotify.
We talk about the necessity for DEI to exist and the importance of having conversations surrounding diversity characteristics. Marc shares that these conversations are important, not just for your own organisation or country, but for the whole world. He uses the example of Tom Daley’s speech about being a gay man at the Olympics after winning his gold medal, which will have reached people worldwide who don’t normally hear about LGBTQ+ people and will have started conversations where they’re needed the most.
We then discuss employee networks, why they exist, and their purpose. Marc shares he is a member of numerous employee networks where he doesn’t necessarily share the diversity characteristics that group represents, but does it to demonstrate how to show solidarity whilst being open to education. Marc then talks about intersectionality and how some companies are too eager to merge employee networks too soon to promote intersectionality, and instead it should be a measured and gradual blending process, especially in small organisations.
The conversation turns to being ‘future ready’ as an organisation: trying to predict societal trends in order to make sure your organisation is poised to keep up with society and address the modern-day concerns of its employees and consumers. Marc gives the example of making moves to represent non-binary and gender-nonconforming employees, as their numbers are predicted to rise in the future.
This episode is packed with tips and advice on how to be an active ally, which Marc explains is when people go beyond traditional ideas about allyship to be active rather than passive in their listening, talking and promotion of inclusion by uplifting and platforming marginalised people.
Links
For more from Marc, you can find him on LinkedIn at Marc McKenna-Coles
For more from Spotify visit their website at https://newsroom.spotify.com/company-info/
To hear Tom Daley’s Gold medal speech at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics that Marc mentioned, follow this YouTube link
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