Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2021 - 32

to workplace policies, practices, and
culture. " However, most existing DEI
training is designed to address bias on
an individual level and not necessarily
on the systemic level. Organizations
are starting to recognize the need to
develop allyship training for system level
change; companies such as Microsoft,
Levi Strauss & Co. and Airbnb have
recently rolled out allyship training to
equip employees with skills to combat
inequities and act as effective allies.

Importance of
Allyship Training
It is not enough to get allies to come to
the table. To harness the full power of
allyship, it is important to understand
the issues that impede collaboration
between allies and design training
programs that promote effective allyship.
Allyship work is challenging, because
it requires individuals with different
experiences and cultural backgrounds
to collaborate and work toward common
goals and outcomes. Allies can bring
potentially
conflicting
worldviews,
values and mindsets which - if not
managed appropriately - can lead to
misunderstanding and conflict. Therefore,
allyship training is most effective when
designed with the diversity of allies in
mind and when it fully prepares them
to overcome the challenges inherent in
working in diverse teams.

Designing Effective
Allyship Training:
A Neuroscience
Perspective
So, what kind of training builds allies?
There isn't one defining characteristic,
but there are insights from neuroscience
research that should be considered when
developing and delivering training.

Minimize Threat
The impact of threat in DEI training is often
underappreciated but can be especially
detrimental in the context of allyship
training. When people are told they are
part of the problem because they belong

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to an advantaged group (e.g., white, male,
straight, etc.), it is natural to feel attacked.
This also challenges their sense of fairness;
they may feel blamed for the actions of a
group they cannot help but belong to. This
is important because activating someone's
threat system leads to defensiveness and
is not conducive to establishing allyship.
How concepts are presented is also
important. For example, training often
includes discussion about implicit biases
and techniques for bias mitigation.
Learners can often feel criticized for
possessing biases if it is not explained
that biases arise from the brain's natural
tendency to create shortcuts based on
our experiences to help us function within
our world. This does not give people " a
pass " ; they should work to mitigate biases
that are maladaptive, but they need to
understand the origins of bias in order to
avoid feelings of blame or defense.

Learners can also feel threatened by other
groups within the allyship. Disadvantaged
people's sense of status and fairness
can be challenged, and they can feel
resentment and demotivation when
advantaged allies draw attention to
themselves - intentional or otherwise - or
are given credit for successes. While many
think of allies as primarily individuals from
an advantaged group, an ally can also be a
member of another disadvantaged group
(e.g., an Asian American supporting Black
Lives Matter). Although people from other
disadvantaged groups can be helpful
allies to the main group being affected,
it is important for training designers to
account for potential conflicts that may
exist between disadvantaged groups.
Training should raise awareness about
these issues and help learners deal
with potential threats.

Allyship necessitates speaking for others
when inequity is happening. This can be
difficult due to potential repercussions.
Allies, particularly advantaged allies,
could also be fearful of making missteps.
These fears can prevent potential allies
from behaving as allies, even if they
believe in the cause. Typically, training
does not adequately address threats
pervasive in allyship or provide strategies
to help deal with threats, despite
research pointing to promising emotional
regulation techniques.
While it is impossible to remove all threats,
it is important to be mindful of the many
threats people face and to address
them when possible, because they can
cause potential allies to disengage from
training and prevent them from opting in
to allyship.

Get Buy-in
Allyship training is about winning hearts
and minds - not forcing people to be
allies. People need to feel that they
are choosing to be part of something
rather than having it be imposed on
them. In fact, removing autonomy by
telling people how to think can backfire
and make people even more biased in
their thinking. To gain buy-in, training
must recognize humans' egocentricity
and help learners see why allyship is
relevant and valuable to them, keeping in
mind that different subgroups within an
allyship have different needs. Ultimately,
this can mean the difference between
someone passively accepting change
and someone actively driving change.

Include People as Part of the
Solution
Effective allyship training brings diverse
groups together to face difficult challenges.
How differences in background,
viewpoints and values are handled can
promote or hinder collaboration among
allies. Diversity training that emphasizes
the differences between groups can lead
to increased bias. On the other hand,
overemphasizing harmony between
groups can also backfire. We should not
ignore the reality that people have very
different lived experiences with inequity
but dwelling on those differences may not
lead to desired outcomes. To this point,
one of the most effective interventions

https://news.microsoft.com/features/a-different-kind-of-diversity-program-is-inspiring-people-to-be-better-allies-and-be-ok-with-making-mistakes/ https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Featured%20Insights/Diversity%20and%20Inclusion/Women%20in%20the%20Workplace%202020/Women-in-the-Workplace-2020.pdf https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4102135.html https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.08.007 https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(18)32267-0.pdf https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(18)32267-0.pdf https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.2720?af=R https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.2720?af=R https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-brain-work/201706/is-your-company-s-diversity-training-making-you-more-biased https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-brain-work/201706/is-your-company-s-diversity-training-making-you-more-biased https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/josi.12129 https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-psych-071620-030619

Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2021

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