LGBTQ Allies Training – University of Birmingham – 20th January 2020

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After a the usual Covid delay for a few months break while I and the university move training online, I’m continuing to run Allies workshops for the University as part of my long-term consultancy partnership which has covered allies, employability mentoring and the curriculum.

The workshop last week was attended by 45 staff – a mixture of academics and mostly professional services staff. Extremely encouraging given how busy people are and especially if they are home-schooling too. The key elements were:

  • Explaining why coming out at work is still a challenge for many employees, especially with varied cultural and international backgrounds
  • Back ground to the changes in the law
  • Explaining terminology
  • Explaining the Ally ‘job description’
  • Break -out room discussions.

 

Feedback from participants were as follows:

  • Great to have those ‘is it just me, or…’ discussions in a safe space
  • Building confidence around language, terminology, and that it’s OK to ask
  • Not worry too much about getting it wrong if you’re clearly asking/doing with the best of intentions.

Looking forward to running the ‘advanced’ course for existing Allies on ‘what exactly can I DO as an ally?’.