The Four Forces of Allyship in the Workplace

Allyship became a household word this year, with organisations and people taking steps in this time of racial reckoning to better understand what it means to be an ally for the LGBTQIA+ community and the Black community. It proved to be a struggle for many, with some being accused of performative allyship, or worse, doing nothing at all.

On R/GA’s latest FutureVision podcast, we unpack what it means to be an ally and how R/GA is extending its allyship training to new audiences and spaces.

In a conversation hosted by Shannon Washington, group executive creative director at R/GA New York, strategists Brandon Heard and Michael Elenterio talk about their work co-leading allyship training in their roles as co-chairs of the company’s LGBTQ+ Network. 

"You can't just half-ass allyship." said Brandon Heard

As Brandon comments: “You can't just half-ass allyship. You have to address all of the different areas and push towards all of those forces of allyship.” 

They discuss R/GA’s Four Forces of Allyship framework as a way to systematically approach allyship as well as a project that brings together that thinking in a tangible way that’s unique to R/GA’s DNA—with a mix of data, technology and creativity.

Listen to this conversation to not only better understand allyship but to hear more about the framework that R/GA is developing; how it’s informing our approach to how we work; and what it means to activate allyship all day, every day—and make it matter.

You can listen to more FutureVision Conversations on Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, Google Play and Stitcher as well as on rga.com.