< Back to Digital Library
Being an Ally to the LGBTQ+ Revenue Community
Being an Ally to the LGBTQ+ Revenue Community
Creating an inclusive environment for those who are underrepresented in the workplace is a necessary piece of hiring for diversity, equality, and inclusion.
How do you build an inclusive environment for your teams? Do you feel safe, heard, and supported as an underrepresented group in your org? How do we even begin to have these discussions?
We sat down for a roundtable discussion with some incredible revenue leaders to talk about the best ways to create inclusivity in your teams, with a focus on the LGBTQ+ community in revenue (sales, marketing, and customer success disciplines) in honor of Pride this month.
A huge thank you to Salesloft and Chorus for sponsoring and Heidi Solomon-Orlick and Dan Bennett for participating as panelists!
Discussion topics
Building an inclusive culture at your org
How to create an environment of support and vulnerability with teammates
How to navigate the revenue world as a member of the LGBTQ+ community
What being an ally looks like to underrepresented communities in the revenue world
Key takeaways
Be more than a logo: Creating safe spaces for people to be themselves. Whether that’s an Employee Resource Group (ERG), hosting conversations, or creating physical spaces. And most importantly, putting your money where your mouth is, advocating resources and budgets that support your employees.
Creating an inclusive environment: It’s not just focusing on one month, be intentional about your support every month. Ensure your team is educated on how to have difficult conversations that create a healthy environment. As a hiring manager, you need to do as much as possible to have inclusive hiring practices. If you don't change your company’s culture, you can’t retain an inclusive and diverse workforce.
Support & Vulnerability: Look at diversity and inclusion issues as one piece of the pie - one person can identify with multiple identities or affinity groups. Instill a culture of intersectionality with cooperation and support. Create a set of first principles that guide your behavior and strategies towards inclusion.
Intersectionality & Accountability: Being able to call out bad behavior is an essential part of creating a vulnerable environment. Does your company know what bad behavior looks like and are steps in place to correct it? If you have a DE&I program with no budget or accountability, then you don’t really have a DE&I program.
Balancing identity & allyship: Do your homework on a company before you join - who do they donate to? What initiatives do they have? What is their philosophy and does it match your values? There’s more to a job outside of compensation, you need to find a place where you can bring your whole self to work.
Resources
Want to continue your learning? Register for the Women in Sales Everywhere (WISE) event, Intrapreneurship: Taking True Initiative in Your Company. You'll learn how to spearhead new and impactful initiatives and take on an entrepreneurial mindset for your goals.
Dive into more resources via the DE&I Resources for Revenue Leaders we’ve put together.