SID2023 Liz Collins Leon - Allyship in Tech: Owning Your Impact

While it is our duty as designers to empathise and advocate for our users, we have a similar role as advocates toward our peers. As we progress through our careers and blaze our own trails, we can pay it forward by creating opportunities for others and using our positions to open doors that would otherwise be closed.

Transcript

1. ALLYSHIP IN TECH Owning Your Impact Liz Collins León
2. In trying to avoid a work culture that romanticizes work-life imbalance and glorifies ‘the struggle’, I freelanced my way into enterprise tech. G’day, y’all!
3. Using your power, position, or privilege to uplift other people that are marginalised, disadvantaged, or subject to frequent and unfair treatment. Allyship creates Equity Gender Race Age Neurodivergence Sexuality
4. People are finding success in higher education more than ever, especially women with their majority domestic enrolment over the last decade. More than just a pay gap Australian Bureau of Statistics (2020) & Australian Government Department of Education and Training (2020) 93% 88% Women (20-24) vs Men have attained year 12 or higher 48% 36% Women (24-29) vs Men have a Bachelor’s degree or more 60% 2022 University Female Enrolment
5. Women are generally better educated, but less likely to win the full-time, higher paying jobs More than just a pay gap Workplace Gender Equality Agency, 2021-2022 Female Male Part-time Full-time Full-time
6. •Remember: Systemic change comes a little at a time. •When breaking barriers, a small push can make a big impact when made as a collective. •Persistent and incremental efforts add up, building momentum. •Can be as simple as listening or as active as hosting forums and conferences. Breaking Barriers
7. • My first boss sought Juniors because he valued adaptability over skill, and dedicated himself on providing a path for subordinates to learn. Managing meets mentorship • Another used his position of power to even the pay gap and promote women to leadership roles, resulting in process efficiency and improved team morale. • VP started a small lunch group to encourage discussions and create a safe space for female and non-binary teammates.
8. Find where you can provide that extra support, and leave a positive impact regardless of whether it comes back to you. • Extra check-ins so remote teammates have more of a voice. • Weaknesses can become strengths with the right project. • If you can’t push the plateau, then you need a new environment – and maybe a new team. Creating opportunities
9. Despite experts and elders advising that I’d need to adopt a cut-throat attitude to get anywhere in life, my first break was by doing the exact opposite. Career built on compassion My insistence of running things with a strong sense of hospitality and empathy won hearts, even after I’d sowed the first seeds.
10. As a Peer: • Appreciate others openly and frequently to foster a safe space for transparent discussions and feedback. • Set up reoccurring events that create regular opportunities to share team’s work and achievements (more than stand-ups). Knowledge silos are bottlenecks just waiting to happen. • Buddy systems are a great way to share knowledge and resources to encourage and upskill each other. Dotry this at home
11. As a Lead: • Find a platform where even the ‘quiet ones’ have a say. Company-wide showcases are a great way to amplify achievements, but might be too much attention for some. • Be on-call support for your team, especially if someone needs back-up in meetings to keep feedback objective and fair. • During performance review, discuss skill sets as well as career paths. Nurturing a new interest could become a new talent. Dotry this at home
12. As Human Resources: • Increase awareness and understanding by facilitating sensitivity training with courses about marginalised groups that were authored by those same groups. • Guard against disparity with regular audits for gaps, such as pay, leadership, or race distribution. • Actively diversify by seeking talent specifically from communities that are underserved at your company. • Relying on automation creates gaps of missed potential. Dotry this at home
13. 2021-2022 Workplace Data Explorer by Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) https://www.wgea.gov.au/data-statistics/data-explorer Guide to Allyship by Amélie Lamont https://guidetoallyship.com/ How to Be an Ally by Camille Styles https://camillestyles.com/wellness/3-questions-to-turn-allyship-into-action/ Sourcesand further reading
14. Questions?