Leigh Walters-James on the importance of male allies at work

Middling Along

In this episode I am joined by Leigh Walters-James who is a Managing Director with Accenture in the UK. Leigh is an advocate for inclusion and diversity and sponsor of the Accenture Accent on Gender and MenoWarriors initiatives within the UK. Leigh’s colleagues Jill Ross and Sarah Garton were interviewed here on the podcast last year to talk about what Accenture has been doing to move the needle on menopause in the workplace, and having met Leigh in person, I’m delighted that he agreed to come on and talk to me about the role of male allyship.

Given that Accenture has been so proactive on the topic of menopause for many years now, Leigh has lots of learning to share, including:

• how important it is for men to learn about menopause so they can recognise if and when it impacts someone in their team;
• discuss it openly and often to help normalize it as a topic of conversation;
• share progress and best practice across office locations, and with customers where appropriate;
• don’t overthink it too much - just start somewhere - where that is will be different for each organization so do it in a way that works where you are;
• culture may not be as much of a barrier as you think it will;
• get comfortable being uncomfortable - listen for more on Leigh’s tips for involving male colleagues in the conversations;
• the critical role of male sponsors and top-down support;
• don’t ‘segregate’ sessions into those for just women or just men;
• breaking down the taboo also opens the door for men to be open and honest about their own health/mental health challenges, and their vulnerabilities: it’s a win-win;
• becoming a ‘go to guy’ for menopause can get you a lot of attention at parties!

Most, if not all, of these apply whatever the size of the organization - or available budget.

If you'd like to catch up with the earlier episode with Sarah and Jill, you can find it at https://middlingalong.com/episodes/middling-along-jill-ross-and-sarah-garton-on-developing-a-community-of-menowarriors-at-accenture/

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