Do You Know How To Be A Good Ally? with Dr. Meg Warren

Feb 4, 2021

Dr. Meg Warren, Assistant Professor of Management at Western Washington University, discusses the latest research on allyship in workplaces and why diversity policies often fail. Topics include: advice for stepping into allyship conversations, defining privileged and marginalized groups, understanding allyship, the negative consequences of top-down diversity policies, and the importance of interpersonal support and visible advocacy in building allyship.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

Navigating the Challenges of Allyship and Recognizing Limitations

02:24 • 3min

Avoiding Saviourism and Understanding Privilege and Marginalization

05:19 • 3min

Understanding Relative Privilege and Being an Informed Ally

08:01 • 3min

Building Allyship Through Interpersonal Support and Visible Advocacy

10:40 • 20min

Dr. Meg Warren is an Assistant Professor of Management at Western Washington University. Meg’s award-winning research uses a positive psychology approach to study how individuals from relatively privileged groups can serve as allies to marginalized outgroups. She’s a co-editor of the International Journal of Wellbeing and the lead editor of two books, Scientific Advances in Positive Psychology and Toward a Positive Psychology of Relationships.

In this week’s episode, we explore what the latest research is finding on how we can be better allies in workplaces and why many workplace diversity and inclusion policies fail to make a positive difference.

Connect with Dr. Meg Warren:

https://megwarren/home

You’ll Learn:

[ 03:15] - Meg offers some advice for how we can more readily step into conversations about allyship with each other, even when we’re worried about saying the wrong things.
[07:07] - Meg shares how researchers define who is in a relatively privileged group and who is in a marginalized outgroup.
[09:57] - Meg shares how researchers define allyship.
[11:12] - Meg offers insights from her research on why and how exceptional allies show up for marginalized groups in workplaces.
[15:22] - Meg explains why the top-down enactment of diversity policies often have unintended negative consequences in workplaces and how these can be avoided.
[17:58] - Meg shares new research on a simple and quick allyship intervention in workplaces that has been found to boost feelings of inclusion and vitality.
[22:48] - Meg explores how allyship behaviors and psychological safety may be intertwined.
[24:37] - Meg offers some cautions and caveats for helping people to build the skills to be more effective allies.
[25:32] - Meg enters the lightning round.

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

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Until next time, take care! Thank you, Meg!