Daily tasks to work towards being a better ally to your peers

1. Microallyship:
Micro servicing your team’s culture
Slide Design + Collab Credit: @_aguillaumePresented by Neha Batra @nerdneha

2. What is Microallyship?

3. I made the term “microallyship” up.

4. Microallyship is about the daily, tiny,
microtasks you can do to grow and
improve yourself as an ally

5. Microallyship is about the daily, tiny,
microtasks you can do to grow and
improve yourself as an ally
Allyship (process) != Ally

6. ● 5 small areas to be a better ally daily
Today you’ll learn...

7. ● 5 small areas to be a better ally daily
● About prioritizing marginalized folks
Today you’ll learn...

8. ● 5 small areas to be a better ally daily
● About prioritizing marginalized folks (not always visible)
Today you’ll learn...
○ Marital Status
○ Parent
○ Pregnant
○ Religion
○ etc.
○ Gender Identity
○ Race
○ Ethnicity
○ Disability
○ Invisible Illness

9. 5 areas for Microallyship
1. Amplify
2. Attribute
3. Volunteer
4. Educate
5. Ask

10. 1: Amplify

11. How can you amplify?
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask
Emoji Reacting +1 bot
Great first steps

12. How can you amplify?
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask
Emoji Reacting +1 bot Credit by @mention-ing
Great first steps Advanced

13. HW #1: Amplify
Amplify by @mention-ing someone’s
awesome work!

14. 2: Attribute

15. How can you attribute?
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask
Pass on positive feedback for peers (esp for ppl outside of your org)
Group DM = Peer + Manager + (sometimes) Your Manager

16. How can you attribute?
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask
Pass on positive feedback for peers (esp for ppl outside of your org)
Group DM = Peer + Manager + (sometimes) Your Manager
“Warm handoff” introduction
Introduce people to each other in a group DM and share useful
context

17. HW #2: Attribute
Attribute positive
feedback to someone
+ their manager in
group chat.

18. HW #2: Attribute (mad libs)
Hi, I want to pass some positive feedback about my recent experiences
with ___(name)___. After working together on ____(task)____, I’ve noticed
their unique ability to ___(1)___, ___(2)___, ___(3)___.
I’d like to share a particular instance where in ___(situation)____, they
went above and beyond and ____(action)_____ and as a result, it
____(impact on you)___ and ___(impact on team/company)____.
I’m happy to send this feedback to anyone that you recommend to
make sure the feedback goes to the right place! I’m always happy to
expand on it or talk about other experiences, too.

19. 3: Volunteer

20. “Office Housework”
low-importance tasks such as
ordering lunch and taking notes in
meetings
Resource: https://www.slideshare.net/TanyaReilly/being-glueResource: https://hbr.org/2018/07/why-women-volunteer-for-tasks-that-dont-lead-to-promotions

21. Office Housework Study
Women received 44% more requests to volunteer than
men in mixed-sex groups.
A request to volunteer was accepted by men 51% of
the time and by women 76% of the time.
Resource: https://www.slideshare.net/TanyaReilly/being-glueResource: https://hbr.org/2018/07/why-women-volunteer-for-tasks-that-dont-lead-to-promotions

22. How can you volunteer? (or distribute it)
● Take notes
● Clean room, area, board
● Send calendar invite, agenda, reminders
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask
Resource: https://www.slideshare.net/TanyaReilly/being-glueResource: https://www.slideshare.net/TanyaReilly/being-glue

23. How can you volunteer? (or distribute it)
● Take notes
● Clean room, area, board
● Send calendar invite, agenda, reminders
● Gather responses for open questions,
ping people to contribute to discussions
Resource: https://www.slideshare.net/TanyaReilly/being-glueResource: https://www.slideshare.net/TanyaReilly/being-glue
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask

24. HW #3: Volunteer
What office housework can you offer
tomorrow?
Default: Volunteer to take notes for the
next meeting.
Set up a reminder

25. 4: Educate

26. How can you educate?
Get news/info from a more diverse crowd
● Follow new folks on twitter
● Retweet threads where you learned something +
follow them
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask

27. How can you educate?
Get news/info from a more diverse crowd
● Follow new folks on twitter
● Retweet threads where you learned something +
follow them
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask
Share interesting threads with your less woke friends

28. HW #4:
Educate yourself by
following 5 new
marginalized folks
(Twitter, GitHub, Medium, etc.)
What groups are absent
in your news feed?

29. HW #4:
Educate yourself by
following 5 new
marginalized folks
(Twitter, GitHub, Medium, etc.)
Sometimes people curate lists for
you! It just takes a quick search.

30. 5: Ask

31. What to ask?
People want to be supported differently. Ask first!
● Their experiences (if they’re comfortable)
● Feedback on being an Ally: “I believe in your success.
How can I be a better ally for you? I came up with
some ideas to start: ____, ____, and ____.”
● Credit: “How do you like to be credited? Can I cc you +
your manager with positive feedback?”
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask

32. HW #5:
Ask for feedback on an ally action item
you want to take on.
“I believe in your success. How can I be a
better ally for you? I came up with some ideas
to start: ____, ____, and ____.”

33. Bonus: Events

34. Allyship at Events (case study)
● Organizers of Electron’s maintainer summit scaled this
● Divided tasks into envelopes and handed them out to
over 40 attendees (opt-in, sharing optional)
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask | Events

35. Allyship at Events (case study)
● Organizers of Electron’s maintainer summit scaled this
● Divided tasks into envelopes and handed them out to
over 40 attendees (opt-in, sharing optional), ex:
○ Ask "Is everyone here who should be part of this conversation?" when
participating in ad-hoc discussions.
○ Talk to each attendee, every day.
○ If you're in a group conversation, ensure everyone has been introduced.
Re-introduce when new people join the group.
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask | Events

36. Allyship at Events (case study)
● Organizers of Electron’s maintainer summit scaled this
● Divided tasks into envelopes and handed them out to
over 40 attendees (opt-in, sharing optional), ex:
○ Ask "Is everyone here who should be part of this conversation?" when
participating in ad-hoc discussions.
○ Talk to each attendee, every day.
○ If you're in a group conversation, ensure everyone has been introduced.
Re-introduce when new people join the group.
● 45% folks did their task 1+ times, 100% wanted a repeat
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask | Events

37. Bonus: Manager Edition

38. Manager Edition
Pass along feedback you hear and encourage it
○ “Have you shared this with your peer yet? I’m sure
they’d love to hear from you”
○ “When was the last time you gave feedback to __?”
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask | Events | Manager Edition

39. Manager Edition
Pass along feedback you hear and encourage it
○ “Have you shared this with your peer yet? I’m sure
they’d love to hear from you”
○ “When was the last time you gave feedback to __?”
Performance Review pull quotes
○ (With consent of providers) include positive
feedback in performance reviews as direct quotes
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask | Events | Manager Edition

40. Manager Edition
Appreciations
At offsites or special meetings,
provide space for folks to write
appreciations for each member
of the team!
● Name goes on top (orange)
● Each person adds to every
other person’s column
● Take it home at the end
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask | Events | Manager Edition

41. Closing Thoughts
Daily checklist of things you can do TODAY:
1. Amplify by @mention-ing someone’s awesome work
2. Attribute positive feedback in group chat
3. Volunteer to do “office housework”, ex: take and share notes
4. Educate yourself by following 5 new marginalized folks
5. Ask someone for feedback on an ally action
(Events: Seek opportunities to practice allyship at an event)
(Managers: Create opportunities for people to share feedback)
Amplify | Attribute | Volunteer | Educate | Ask | Events | Manager Edition

42. You can be a
better ally every day.
You got this!