By Donna Edwards, Managing Director for Business Support & Business Finance, and SMT Sponsor of GC’s LGBTQ+ Network
I volunteered to sponsor our LGBTQ+ Network, because I have family and friends from the community, and it’s an area that I’m passionate about. I wanted to offer my support and allyship to the network’s two Chairs, to help drive forwards GC’s LGBTQ+ commitments.
As an organisation, it’s important that we celebrate and show our support to our LGBTQ+ colleagues, and the communities we work with, and this month we’re taking part in the Manchester Pride March.
Our involvement in PRIDE events has only really been made possible by the LGBTQ+ Network. Like all our GC EDI networks, we are about giving our colleagues and communities a platform and a safe space where they can talk and raise any issues or questions they may have, without being judged.
My role as a sponsor is to support the LGBTQ+ Network’s Chairs by providing the opportunity and the right environment – to encourage colleagues to join the network and take part in our activities. Only by engaging can you truly understand the issues and challenges others are facing first hand, rather than hearsay.
Supporting and empowering people to be themselves
It’s very difficult if you have to compartmentalise yourself, and be different things to different people, in different spaces. I want all our colleagues to come to work as a whole-person – and that means they must feel comfortable to be able to do that.
There may be people in our workplace who are uncomfortable by other people doing that – so through the LGBTQ+ Network, we educate colleagues that it’s OK to bring your whole self to work. We’ve all got to learn to consider things in different ways and be open minded and respectful to other people’s perspectives and views.
And it’s not just about supporting colleagues in work – it’s providing advice and guidance to friends and parents/carers of people from the LGBTQ+ community. We now have a number of colleagues who’ve joined the network because their children are growing up and trying to work out who they are – and as parents, they want to be able to support their children on that journey. So, joining the network is a safe space to ask questions.
The importance of listening and educating
One of our challenges in driving change is our GC geography, as we’re spread across lots of locations – so in the network’s activities, we need to do our best to engage all colleagues across all sites. Frontline working also presents a barrier for many client-facing colleagues being able to attend our events, due to their work schedules. Working virtually has helped us reach and inform more colleagues – especially with online ‘lunch and learn’ style events, where colleagues can watch them later if they can’t attend the live sessions.
It’s also important that our network members and allies are active-advocates and actively share why we’re here, and how we can support. To help this, we’re always building and evolving resources and support tools to help colleagues. Our hybrid approach works well here and sharing our thoughts and inspirations in Teams chats, which keeps our network connected and energised with a drumbeat of ideas which fuels our regular meeting agendas and outputs.
Being there when it matters
Like me, you’ll probably know when something is bothering someone…but unless they feel safe, they may not what to tell you why. Colleagues need to know that they have someone to go to if they are experiencing some form of aggression because of who they are. Sometimes, even getting to and from work can be uncomfortable, and we need to ensure they can be open with us if they’re facing these challenges, so that we can help.
Accreditations help us re-focus
Having our commitments externally validated, as with the All Equals Charter, provides us with an independent, objective benchmark of where we are on our journey. The Charter’s given us a very clear plan of what we need to do to become an ‘exemplar’ in the LGBTQ+ space.
Our focus needs to be around how we talk about our LGBTQ+ journey outside of GC, which in turn showcases our diverse workforce and encourages people to want to come and work for us and be their selves. We’re so busy doing great things, that we actually forget to shout about them! Something we need to continue to work on and this is a focus of the network.
All contributions and perspectives are welcome
GC has a fantastic range of EDI networks, which has evolved and grown over time based on feedback from our colleagues. That’s a really positive thing and demonstrates that they feel confident in speaking up where they feel there’s an opportunity, or a gap in support and representation. They’re also starting to become stronger and more dynamic and it’s good to see collaboration across the networks on events.
The LGBTQ+ Network has an action plan which is reviewed regularly, and this is shared with the other seven networks. It details the events that we’re planning to support and participate in, as well as activities we can engage colleagues on – to increase their understanding of the LGBTQ+ community.
If you’re thinking about joining our network, please give us a go. We’d really welcome more contributions and perspectives to help shape and inform our action plan, so that we can have a more relevant and larger impact as a network. Take a look at the LGBTQ+ network’s webpage on Our Working Way.