How allyship helped build inclusive cultures during the pandemic…and beyond

We’ve all seen the troubling numbers about “The Great Resignation,” and how women were leaving the workforce at an alarming rate during the pandemic. On a more positive note, I am pleased to share with you some encouraging news based on original research conducted at the height of the pandemic: The WOMEN Unlimited’s impact report, “Looking Back to Move Forward: Building Inclusive Cultures through Competencies and Collaboration.”

Allyship as a key strategy for weathering difficult times

The report surveyed more than 4,000 key constituents: participants and recent alumnae of WOMEN Unlimited programs, their immediate supervisors and organizational leaders who served as mentors for the women. The survey findings point to the benefits of allyship, where managers assumed a supportive role for the women and helped them find their voice and grow their talents. When the women’s development was actively encouraged and their needs heard and addressed, the clear majority not only survived, but thrived during COVID’s disruptive times.

The survey covered five competencies: adaptability, tolerance for ambiguity, risk-taking, openness to differences and building effective teams. These competencies were considered to be of critical importance whether women were working remotely, on site or in a hybrid environment. The women self-assessed and the managers rated the observed changes. In each of the five competencies, there were marked improvements during the pandemic as reported by the women and their managers, due in large part to allyship. 

For example, the number of women who rated themselves as “highly skilled in tolerating ambiguity” tripled. The managers who viewed them that way more than doubled. A few highlights of how allyship contributed to positive results across all five competencies:

• Empathy: As managers became more aware of the complex personal and professional responsibilities faced by women on their team, they gained a greater clarity about the actions they needed to take to ensure the women could thrive professionally. The increase in managerial understanding and empathy contributed to the majority of women not only meeting goals but exceeding them.
• Trust: Through conversation and collaboration, a greater level of trust emerged, fostering an environment where women and their managers worked together to define and achieve critical priorities. As a result, women were able to let go of time-consuming and stress-inducing tasks so they could better influence what was most critical to the organization.
• Flexibility and creativity:  When managers’ understanding and support of the women on their team increased, so did their flexibility. Increased managerial flexibility allowed women to focus on more creative solutions to meet their needs. For example, women became more adept at defining how and when work got done. As this more individualized approach took hold, the needs of both the women and the organizations were successfully met, without sacrificing one for the other.

Implications that reach far beyond the pandemic

While WOMEN Unlimited’s impact report provides critical facts, figures and findings on how women and their managers successfully adapted to the challenges of the pandemic, the implications go well beyond the initial results. 

Moving forward, organizations need to continue to adopt and expand the approaches to allyship that helped define success for women and their organizations during the pandemic. A few examples of how to keep the allyship momentum going:

• Leveraging the flexibility and creativity shown during the pandemic, organizations can maximize their efforts to retain key contributors, especially female talent. Seeking feedback from employees about how and where they would like to work could go a long way toward retaining female talent.

• As the job market continues to tighten, compensation alone will not attract new talent. By creating a culture that is defined by adaptability and openness to differences, organizations are more likely to attract much-needed diverse talent. 
• Managers, in providing their employees with more independence for when and how they work, will see that the job will get done and that the resulting autonomy will often result in even better outcomes.
• Organizational leaders now have tangible evidence of the importance of collaboratively implementing key competencies throughout the company. By holding managers accountable for learning and fostering those competencies, they can create a more trusting and inclusive corporate culture.

How we’ll work and where we’ll work continues to be defined. Whatever that trajectory, allyship has an important role to play. It can significantly improve decision making, morale and talent retention. And it works best when it permeates all organizational levels, embraced by employees, managers, the C-suite and the board. I look forward to a growing number of companies unleashing the power of allyship as they move toward more inclusive cultures.