How to advocate for people in your company.

In honor of women’s history month, let’s talk about advocacy! Highlighting women this month is important, but what is more important, is understanding how to uplift and support those women throughout the year.

The definition of advocacy: getting support from another person to help you express your views and wishes, and help you stand up for your rights.

So how do we do this in the workplace? I’ll give you a hint…pausing.

When we pause, we allow our brains to be more aware of our surroundings. Whether that's in a conversation or in a room of people.

Being aware means we are observing the world around us.

Too many times people go on with their day like a bulldozer through life and especially in conversations. No shame, we’ve all done it. But what happens when we roll through without a thought because of busy-ness? We miss opportunities.

Opportunities to advocate for those around us, and if you’re leading a team - the people you’re in charge of supporting.

Many leaders live out their lives as “problem solvers” only listening to respond - ouch I know, but again we’ve all been there!

Even if you’re not leading a team, this can play out in friendships, work interactions and relationships.

When we allow for a pause (AKA The Leader HQ’s definition of a”response” versus “reaction”), we allow others to be heard, seen and valued.

Does this mean silence? Absolutely not, but when we look again at the definition of advocacy it says: getting support from another person to help you express your views and wishes, and help you stand up for your rights.

Support looks like allowing other people to state their opinion even if it differs from yours, because every single person on this Earth wants 3 things: to be heard, seen and valued. And how do you do that? Let em talk!

Support also looks like asking questions - let me clarify: kind and supportive questions. Dig into their opinions and views out of interest.

Support looks like pausing and observing your environment. Did someone just talk over the one woman in that meeting? Support her by highlighting what she has to say and let her talk. This also benefits the team because who knows - her opinion might solve a problem. And even if it doesn’t, she gets to feel heard and like her opinion is valued. Can someone say morale and retention?!

There are so many other ways we can advocate for people in our company, but when we break it all down to the core - just remember to take a pause, look around and do your part to foster a collaborative, supportive and inclusive environment for everyone.

We lead by example, how will you advocate for your team members?