5 Things / Word of the Year
This week I learned that Dictionary.com named Allyship its Word of the Year. The term had first surfaced in the mid-1800s, but was only added to Dictionary.com last month after a spike in searches for terms like "ally" and "alliance."
I don't know about you, but it gives me hope that a whole lot of people are searching for these words.
When I speak about allyship in my talks, I invite folks to reflect on who has been an ally for them in the past? Who took a chance on you? Who gave you a shot? Allyship is a way to "pay it forward." It's a responsibility. But it also requires consistency. It's not one and done.
But it is easier than you think, as long as we're willing to get out of our heads and use our words...often easier said than done. I created the ARC Method to help with that.
Here are some of the good vibes I learned this week:
Major League Soccer (MLS) updated its hiring policies to set higher diversity standards for itself and all the clubs. It now requires that the finalist pool for open technical positions have two or more BIPOC candidates with comparable experience, one of whom must be Black. To hold clubs accountable, MLS created a diversity policy portal in which clubs must submit all details of vacant technical positions and include information related to all candidates in the final candidate pool. These policies matter because they prioritize opportunities for Black candidates.
I wrote about The Body Shop's open hiring program in my book Inclusive 360. The first candidate who applies for a job gets it, as long as they can lift 50 lbs, stand for 8 hours, and are legal to work. No background checks. This week I learned that despite the Great Resignation, The Body Shop stores are well-staffed, filling roles at a 100% rate using open hiring. This matters because work requirements are often overly-strict, creating a barrier for people to work.
There are some great wins in this article. The tech company Akamai removed unnecessary qualifications (such as long lists of programming languages not used in a particular role) from job postings. Wayfair developed a tool to scan performance reviews for racially biased language. Both of these changes can increase diversity, and in particular, the bias that pops up in performance reviews is a huge barrier to diversity within higher levels of organizations.