Recruiting a senior champion
Having a senior champion for LGBTQ+ inclusion can be extremely beneficial. This dedicated person in senior management plays a key role in driving meaningful change. You might refer to them as 'senior sponsors' or 'executive sponsors,' as they serve as the main connection between your LGBTQ+ employee network group and senior management.
Identifying who to approach
When considering who to approach as a senior champion, it's important to evaluate the following factors:
- Are there senior leaders in your company already engaged in equality and diversity initiatives?
- Are there any senior leaders that have a particularly significant influence internally at your organisation?
- How visible are they across your organisation?
- Which senior leaders possess external visibility and influence in the communities you serve, your industry, and your supply chains?
- Which senior leaders are consistently committed to listening and learning?
- Do any senior leaders have personal motivations or stories to share regarding LGBTQ+ inclusion?
You may wish to assess whether you require formal support from more than one senior champion. For example if your organisation is large and has a dispersed workforce, this may necessitate visible senior support in various regions or nations.
Senior champions can either be LGBTQ+ themselves, or allies. Visible LGBTQ+ senior champions can serve as powerful role models for junior LGBTQ+ employees. They can help demonstrate that their identity won't hinder their advancement within your organisation. They may also be able to share personal experiences to authentically advocate for inclusion among their senior colleagues and the wider workforce.
Non-LGBTQ+ senior champions send a clear message that LGBTQ+ inclusion is a collective responsibility within your organisation. Some organisations opt to have both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ senior champions, each with distinct responsibilities.
Putting forward a business case
Once you’ve identified the senior leader or leaders you wish to approach, your organisation may require you to create a business case. A compelling business case can be essential in engaging senior leaders in lending their formal support. A business case should be grounded in evidence and highlight the tangible impact your senior leaders’ involvement can achieve. We recommend tailoring the business case to your organisation's specific context and align it with the priorities of the senior leaders you intend to approach. For ideas on how to build a business case, read our webpage on ‘Securing organisational support’.
Supporting your Senior Champion
As a Senior Champion, your senior leader will act as a voice for LGBTQ+ employees at all levels, and may represent the organisation’s LGBTQ+ inclusion work externally.
Here are some simple ways to support your Senior Champion to be vocal and informed on LGBTQ+ issues:
- Provide your senior leader with recent research on LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion, or articles of workplace stories from LGBTQ+ employees. Stonewall’s research can be a good place to start for statistics to share about issues affecting LGBTQ+ people. This data can highlight existing barriers for LGBTQ+ employees in the workplace.
- It’s good practice for Senior Champions to regularly meet with your LGBTQ+ network group to better understand their needs. You may wish to consider arranging for them to be invited to LGBTQ+ network group events to hear about the lived experiences of your employees.
- Share the positive and negative experiences of your LGBTQ+ employees. These should be collected and shared anonymously, for instance through network focus groups or employee surveys.
- Invite them to sector-specific events on LGBTQ+ inclusion, such as seminars run by your sector’s LGBTQ+ network. As a Senior Champion this is an opportunity for them to begin being a visible and vocal ally within your sector and to learn from others outside of your organisation.
- Approach other Senior Champions in your sector to ask if they would be willing to mentor your Senior Champion and share some of their learning.
- Support them in their learning journey. We all make mistakes! Your Senior Champion may feel hesitant about needing to be perfect or know everything about LGBTQ+ inclusion. It’s important to acknowledge this and facilitate open conversations where they’re able to ask questions and learn.
Our Top tips for senior leaders to get started with LGBTQ+ inclusion article has more ideas for senior leaders looking to get started with LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Once your Senior Champion has learnt more about LGBTQ+ experiences and taken their first steps, you may want to discuss how they can go even further in their support.
What else can our Senior Champions do?
If you already have a Senior Champion in place and they are wondering how they can further build on the work they are doing around LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace, here are some additional suggestions:
- Recruit other Senior Champions across your organisation in support of LGBTQ+ inclusion. More support can ensure systematic and sustainable long-term impact. Consider whether there’s a need for regional champions to better reach geographically dispersed employees.
- Co-ordinate reverse mentoring to allow other senior leaders to hear directly from LGBTQ+ employees about their lived experiences. A reverse mentoring scheme is where LGBTQ+ staff voluntarily directly share their experiences of your workplace with their non-LGBTQ+ peers or senior leaders. This can provide staff with insight into your workplace that they may not have been aware of, or of lived experiences they do not personally hold. This should be carefully co-ordinated with your network group and be part of broader training, so LGBTQ+ employees don’t feel it’s solely their responsibility to educate senior colleagues.
- Gather feedback from your LGBTQ+ network group on your support as a senior leader and what you can do to improve. Provide opportunities for this feedback to be anonymous, or even part of an existing appraisal process in your organisation.
- Set up a mentoring scheme to aid the career development of junior LGBTQ+ employees. For more information about career development initiatives, see our resource on the Employee Lifecycle.
- Build a network with other Senior Champions in your region or sector to learn what other leaders do, share good practice, and collectively achieve systematic change.
- Drive support for local community groups, such as sponsoring their events or providing volunteers for local LGBTQ+ groups, prides and charities.
- Speak about LGBTQ+ inclusion externally with the media, at conferences, and at community events. This is a particularly powerful way to demonstrate your commitment to prospective employees, customers and service users.
Harness the external influence of your organisation by engaging with wider LGBTQ+ developments and advocating for equality regionally, nationally or internationally. For more information, see our guide Agents of Change on global advocacy for businesses.
Embracing LGBTQ+ inclusion in your organisation's senior leadership is a dynamic step towards a more inclusive workplace. By actively seeking and nurturing senior champions, your organisation can drive meaningful change and set an inspiring example for others. Senior leaders can help foster an environment where every employee can thrive.