Building alliances to foster inclusion in the company

The white participants then read out the various acts of alliance that could be performed to resolve this discrimination case, from the simple question "how can I help you?" to the more challenging ones, e.g. reporting it to HR. The white people involved in the research then indicated how much they thought their African-American colleague would appreciate these acts of alliance. At the same time, the African American participants read the same scenario; they were asked to identify with the role of the African American colleague and indicated how much they would appreciate the same acts of alliance. The results showed that white people significantly underestimated the extent to which their African American colleagues valued these explicit behaviours. The consistent underestimation of how much people value when others display allyship behaviour also occurs in positive reinforcement contexts.

In a study on gender alliance, male university students made an alliance pledge to support the women at their school. The male students were asked how much they thought the women would appreciate their commitment. Female students were then asked how much they appreciated male students making the same commitment. The results revealed, once again, that the male students underestimated how much the women appreciated the simple act of signing an alliance pledge and revealed the main reason for this: they mistakenly thought that the female students would perceive them as more inauthentic than they actually were and feared that the female students would accuse them of being disingenuous and doing it because they were forced to.

The pattern that was discovered proved to be robust in a number of circumstances. In another experiment, men underestimated how much women would appreciate being celebrated for receiving a promotion at work.

This mismatch between perceived and actual alliance appreciation is important because feelings of appreciation can drive the choice of whether or not to act as an ally. In a study of white male employees, Lean In found that the less people think their alliance acts will be appreciated, the less likely they are to engage in this behaviour. So, given this constant disconnect between advantaged and disadvantaged groups, what can organisations do to encourage alliance? First, organisations can explain how acts of alliance are appreciated by disadvantaged groups more than they expect. Second, companies can consider programmes or training courses that highlight how alliance generates appreciation. A Harvard Business Review study showed that when people witness people expressing how much they admire the alliance, it increases their intention to engage in it. To be clear, it is not up to disadvantaged groups to increase the alliance by expressing their appreciation; rather, we suggest that awareness of this appreciation can and should stimulate the alliance.

Finally, organisations can continuously gather sentiment on the topic among members of a traditionally underrepresented group by asking which alliance behaviours they would value most and would be most beneficial to them, and then share the results with potential allies. In the cited studies, it was deduced that the most valued form of alliance is the offering of direct help, while the use of humour is one of the least valued forms of alliance. Given the findings on misperceptions of appreciation among various groups, research therefore suggests that listening to historically disadvantaged groups could be useful in understanding which forms of alliance are most effective and appreciated.

Now is the time to practise alliance. Not only is it essential for creating diverse, equitable and inclusive organisations, but it is a training ground for building communities oriented towards mutual aid and sincere appreciation for those who concretely put themselves on the right side of history.

*Partner Newton