Allies use their power, voice and privilege to act in solidarity with individuals from marginalised or minority groups to tackle inappropriate behaviour and bring down systems of oppression.
VinciWorks and Skill Boosters recently hosted an interactive webinar where they were joined by business psychologist and diversity expert Binna Kandola OBE, founder of business-psychology consultancy Pearn Kandola, as well as psychologist Ashley Williams and Skill Boosters’ Head of Content Ros Fordyce. They looked at real-life scenarios and explored what makes an effective ally. Using short video scenarios, we polled the audience on how they would best handle a given situation and share insights from leading D&I experts.
The diversity and inclusion webinar covers:
- Why is allyship important?
- The different minority and marginalised groups to whom we can be allies
- What it means to be an effective and inclusive ally
- Actions that allies can take to support people from minority or marginalised groups
- The ‘Open The Front Door’ communication framework and how to use it
- A brief overview of the new Allyship course by Skill Boosters
Skill Boosters’ Allyship course
The webinar builds on Skill Boosters’ Allyship course, a video-based training course that teaches users how to be an ally, how allyship can help marginalised groups, how to use the ‘Open Front Door’ communication framework, and the importance of awareness, empathy, action and authenticity.
Speaker bios:
Professor Binna Kandola OBE
Senior Partner @Pearn Kandola
Professor Binna Kandola OBE is a Business Psychologist, Senior Partner and co-founder of Pearn Kandola. Over the past 35 years, he has worked on a wide variety of projects for public and private sector clients both in the UK and overseas. He is also the co-author of several other management books. One of which, ‘Managing the Mosaic’, won a Special Commendation at the 1994 Management Book of the Year Awards. A regular contributor to the HR and business press, he is a sought after and highly regarded conference speaker.
Ashley Williams
Psychologist @Pearn Kandola
Ashley is a Business Psychologist with a BSc in Psychology from Newcastle University, and an MSc in Occupational and Organisational Psychology from Northumbria University. Ashley joined the business in 2020 after submitting her PhD at The University of Manchester, which focused on the impact of stereotypes on career experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender individuals. During this time, she attended international research summer schools and presented her research at conferences in the UK and across Europe. Though Ashley’s expertise lies within LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion, she is passionate about promoting intersectional D&I initiatives within organisations.
Ros Fordyce
Head of Content @Skill Boosters
A former teacher and trainer, Ros spent many years working at the cutting edge of digital communications, both at the heart of the UK government and for a wide range of private sector companies, before moving into the online training sphere. As Skill Boosters’ Head of Content for the past ten years, she has combined her passion for learning with her love of drama to shape Skill Boosters’ ground-breaking video-based training solutions and bring equality, diversity and inclusion to life for a global audience.
Nick Henderson
Director of Learning and Content @VinciWorks
Nick Henderson is Director of Learning and Content at VinciWorks and has played an important role in developing VinciWorks’ most interactive and customisable courses covering topics such as ESG, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, GDPR, diversity, mental health, health and safety and more. Nick is a policy expert with a background in public, voluntary and private sectors and has expert-level knowledge across a wide range of areas.
Gary Yantin
Director of Best Practice @VinciWorks
As Director of Best Practice at VinciWorks, Gary Yantin works with professional service firms of all sizes to provide the best compliance learning experience for their staff. He was previously an in-house lawyer and a solicitor in private practice. Gary has hosted many webinars and workshops for VinciWorks on a wide range of risk and compliance topics including GDPR, DAC6 and ESG.
