What allyship training did for Irwell Valley Homes

“Being an ally can’t just be about nodding when someone says something we agree with – important as that is. It must also be about action.”

The words of US presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, resonate with us here at Irwell Valley Homes – echoing the ‘deeds not words’ sentiment of an inspirational leader who hails from a little closer to home: Greater Manchester’s very own Emmeline Pankhurst.

Our words say that we value the diversity of the communities we work with and the colleagues we employ. But we know we can do more to ensure we hear the more marginalised voices in our communities and to understand the experience of the LGBTQ+ colleagues who work with us.

The state of LGBTQ+ inclusion

When it comes to LGBTQ+ inclusion, the statistics speak for themselves. Though we pride ourselves on delivering homes where people feel safe and able to be themselves, research by the University of Surrey found that 60% of trans people felt their neighbourhood was an unsafe place to live. Moreover, one in five gay men reported modifying their home in some way (e.g. moving pictures or books) to hide their sexual orientation from a visiting repair operative or housing officer. A third of respondents also felt that their housing provider was not able to deal effectively with issues like harassment.

Likewise, Stonewall’s LGBT in Britain – Work Report (2018) found that more than a third of LGBT staff have hidden that they are LGBT at work for fear of discrimination. The same report highlighted that one in ten Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic LGBT employees have been physically attacked by customers or colleagues in the last year and nearly two in five bisexual people aren’t out to anyone at work. As much as we believe our services to our customers are inclusive or hope that our colleagues feel they can be their authentic selves, the reality for some people may be quite different.

More than 25 social housing providers (plus more affiliated LGBTQ+ organisations) in the north-west of England are members of HouseProud NorthWest. It’s a network for social housing providers to improve the way we engage, support and deliver services to our LGBTQ+ communities and colleagues across the region. By working together and sharing good practice between members, we are determined to drive the change that’s needed to alter some of these realities.

The ‘ally’ approach to improving inclusion

A conversation with colleagues at Stockport Homes inspired the ‘ally’ approach, which Irwell Valley Homes developed into a flexible, thought-provoking and challenging training course for colleagues. Participants worked through interactive and accessible content with the two hosts of the training, one of whom was a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Colleagues were encouraged to explore their biases, build knowledge, work on their confidence and develop empathy. The aim was to think and act as an ally to the LGBTQ+ community.

We created the ally training to help colleagues be more supportive to their co-workers and to our customers. We wanted it to raise awareness of, and challenge, unconscious biases whilst driving behavioural change.

Whether that’s a colleague feeling more confident in stepping up or speaking out when they witness exclusion and discrimination, or a customer feeling comfortable when a housing officer or repairs operative calls at their home.

One of our development team managers took part in the training last year. Afterwards, she shared that the training increased her awareness, which she has been able to apply to her own role.

"One area I found really useful was around language”, she said. “Thinking about the appropriate words to use and how careless speech can affect and upset others on the one hand or make them feel at ease on the other.

We have a customer in one of our newbuild properties who has been transitioning over the last 10 years. The things I’d learnt on the course helped me to interact and assist him in a more supportive and sensitive way. I'd only had probably a small glimpse of the challenges that would have been presented to him over many years, but this made me appreciate all the more his resilience and strength.”

We wanted the ally training to serve as an inspiration to colleagues to shape their own awareness training. We hoped that those belonging to marginalised groups would feel encouraged to share their experience and expertise to a wider audience. In turn, this would help break down barriers to productive and healthy colleague and customer relationships. This has included creating a colleague group for those with neurodiversity, and we’re looking forward to seeing how this develops further using the ally training concept. The sessions we have organised so far have been very well received.

From them, we have also developed a LGBTQ+ awareness ‘toolbox talk’. This is designed to be delivered in less than an hour, targeted at our repairs and maintenance colleagues. These sessions address unconscious bias and clarify misunderstandings, helping colleagues provide appropriate and inclusive services to our customers when working in their homes.

What next?

The programme may be well underway but we’re by no means standing still and are committed to learning from and modifying the training as we roll it out. We evaluate which areas land well, and which need review. Colleagues delivering the training are all passionate about making a difference, improving people’s experience and creating a better understanding of the diversity we seek to promote. 

Ultimately, we can only judge ourselves allies once the community we have allied ourselves with agrees. We will continue to seek feedback and lived experiences from our customers and colleagues to ensure our vocal ambitions are being translated into meaningful actions and change.