Meg Warren discusses allyship on Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast
November 22, 2021
POISED (Positive Organizational Inclusion Scholarship for Equity and Diversity)
Research Spotlight
Meg Warren
Center for Positive Organizations (CPO) faculty affiliate Meg Warren visits the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast for an episode called “Do You Know How To Be A Good Ally?”
Warren joins host Michelle McQuaid to explore the latest research on how members of privileged groups can be better allies to members of marginalized groups at work. Warren also discusses why many workplace diversity and inclusion policies fail to make a positive difference and offers a more effective alternative.
“One of the biggest dangers comes when we do engage in some kind of diversity training. We do engage in some efforts. We allocate some of our own money and resources to it. Then we say, ‘OK, this is how much we’ve done and now we can check this box off,’ ” Warren says. “When we stop learning, that’s our biggest danger because, in this work, our intellectual humility, our commitment to growing as allies, these are our strongest assets. There’s a lot of work to be done and if we simply look at it as checking off a box, that’s optical allyship. That’s not real visible advocacy. That’s not going to make shifts in our system.”
Warren is an Associate Professor of Management at Western Washington University.
POISED
POISED — Positive Organizational Inclusion Scholarship for Equity and Diversity — is a new microcommunity that investigates diversity, equity, and inclusion through the lens of Positive Organizational Scholarship — paying special attention to positive states, qualities, relationships, and processes (such as dynamics that contribute to human strength, resilience, and flourishing) in organizations to surface new insights.
POISED is tackling vital questions such as how underrepresented minorities develop the capacity to thrive in the workplace rather than being derailed by discrimination, how leaders and allies partner in DEI efforts to help underrepresented minorities thrive, and how organizations that have stumbled in their efforts to support DEI can learn, grow, and flourish from their experiences. All are invited to learn more and join.