Welcome to this edition of the BDR International Group LLC podcast. These podcasts are the audio version of "Perspectives" that you may find at bdrinternationalgroup.com. This podcast is titled "Allies Need Their Allies, Too." I hope you find it useful.

Allies are very important in nearly all of the work that we do. This may strike some as odd because many think of an ally as someone "needed when..." The reality is "needed when" is usually every day.

Maybe we need to take a look at what is meant by the word "ally." Because there are many levels and types of allies, and to make sure we are sharing the same context, some working definitions are in order.

What Is Meant by the Word "Ally?"

Merriam-Webster defines the noun "ally" as "one that is associated with another as a helper : a person or group that provides assistance and support." This is a good starting point, but it can be limiting depending upon how we define "helper" or "provides assistance and support."

For purposes of this post, a "helper" or someone who "provides assistance and support" will include those who do not get in the way. They may not actively help or assist, but they also do not block. Years ago as a volunteer in an organization in Atlanta sponsored by the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), we named this type of ally a "positive neutral." Ideally, we would have appreciated their help, assistance, and support, but we would score it as a win if they did not block.

Getting back to those allies who help, assist, and support, we still need to think broadly. What is a "helper?" Can an "enabler" be included? This word often has a negative connotation, but this negative meaning is not definitive. Merriam-Webster defines "enabler" as "one that enables another to achieve an end." Merriam-Webster does go on to explain how over the last several decades the word is being used in addiction studies to describe a person who helps another person remain in a destructive behavioral pattern, but an enabler can still be positive. For our purposes, an "enabler" will be a positive influence as an ally.

Active and Passive Allies

As mentioned above, I consider a "positive neutral" an ally even though they may be non-committal. I clearly need active allies to help move change forward, but someone who will not block change (positive neutral) is also beneficial which makes them an ally. In reality, a range of allies is okay, and where they fall on a spectrum lets us know if they are an ally or not.

A way to think about this is to use the "Spectrum of Allies tool" developed by Martin Oppenheimer and George Lakey in their book, A Manual for Direct Action: Strategy and Tactics for Civil Rights and All Other Nonviolent Protest Movements. In using this tool, 3 of the 5 pie slices that I consider to be allies are:

1. Active Allies
2. Passive Allies
3. Neutral

while the other 2 pie slices (Passive Opposition, Active Opposition) I consider to be non-allies.

Expanding "Neutral" to the IAF's "positive neutral," this person or group becomes an ally. Any position that does not cause harm is a plus.

"Passive Opposition" and "Active Opposition" are potential allies although there may be no point in trying to move those who are in active opposition. At a minimum, these 2 would need to be moved 1 and 2 pie slices to the left, respectively, in order to become allies.

In an ideal change situation, all people would be in the "Active Allies" slice. This is not reality, nor is it needed to make change happen. In practice, I seek to get a critical mass in the 3 ally slices listed above.

What Are the Types of Allies?

In a workshop, "Allies: Necessary for Culture Change," we ran at the "Women Advance IT: Women Advancing the Future of Information Technology in Higher Education" conference, something we did not expect was the sheer number of types of allies that could be identified. Largely, these types can be grouped into the following categories:

• Advocates
• Cheerleaders
• Mentors
• Power Players
• Stakeholders

Something that had not occurred to me before this conference is how an ally type like me (mentor, advocate, power player) for our gender equity initiative also has allies: cheerleaders, advocates, stakeholders, and power players. This may seem rather obvious, but when recruited as an ally, we may forget that we also need to have allies. Needing allies makes sense as cultural change requires a critical mass of people (enlist a volunteer army) believing in the need for change.

One of the more critical ally types for me was a subset of "cheerleaders." I call these allies "believers." These are allies who believe I have something to offer. This may seem inconsequential, but their belief in me gave me the courage to engage the issue. I may not have had this courage absent the belief in me.

So, my "believers" needed the ally types I could provide, and I needed the ally type they could provide in order to be their ally. Neat circle, is it not?

Ally Types on the Spectrum of Allies

The different ally types may fall across the spectrum of allies. For example, a power player could be in any of the 5 pie slices on the spectrum, but they are truly useful as an ally when they are either an active ally or at least a positive neutral. If the power player is passively or actively opposed, they can cause huge trouble.

As another example, a cheerleader is likely going to be in 1 of the first 3 slices. Their most significant contribution is keeping us energized which is why they are typecast as cheerleaders.

Mapping Your Allies

In order to map your allies and the types of allies they are, you first need to define what it is you are trying to achieve, and then what ally types would be most useful to help accomplish this change.

Once this is done, you would fill in your ally map with the types of allies needed, and the people who may fulfill these types. Keep in mind that one person may show up in several ally types. This is okay.

The handouts from our workshop provide a good reference for you to use as you work through your situation. Be sure to revisit these handouts whenever you would benefit from having allies. Depending upon the situation, the same individual may fulfill the role of a different ally type.

For the text version of this podcast and other "Perspectives" articles, please visit BDR international group.com. Thank you.