When you get hired at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, you don’t have to wait around to find a mentor by chance. Even if you’re not entering for a leadership position, “a mentor is assigned as a part of the onboarding process. You don’t move through that process without a mentor being assigned,” said Michael Lopez, the chief diversity officer at HPE.

That first step for an HPE employee is part of the evolving culture of career development at the company, which dovetails with its efforts toward diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). “I've never seen so much buy-in, I've never seen so much engagement around the topic, a willingness to have the discussion,” Lopez said. “Now, whether that willingness results in action remains to be seen. It has almost become cliché, but whether this is a movement or a moment really is about what happens next,” Lopez told Fortune senior editor Ellen McGirt in a one-on-one conversation at From Day One’s July virtual conference, “Diversity’s Many Roles: How Mentors, Sponsors and Allies Each Play a Part in Inclusion.”

Events of the last 18 months have highlighted the need for acts of mentorship, sponsorship and allyship in the workplace, practices that have the power to improve morale, reduce attrition, increase representation of marginalized groups in leadership roles, support inclusion, foster psychological safety, and increase productivity.

Given all those manifest benefits, Corporate America is giving this kind of structured guidance more attention. But with the new emphasis comes the need for managers and employees to understand the distinctions between mentorship, sponsorship, and allyship. For his part, Lopez said he doesn’t draw rigid lines around the three, preferring to think of it as a spectrum instead. “It’s much more nuanced than that,” he said.

He put it this way: There are mentors who provide support and encouragement, connectors and opportunity givers who might offer a colleague an “insider track,” and advocates who go to bat for someone both publicly and privately. However, he said, one individual can’t be expected to fill all of those roles. “Many times it's a web of relationships that we have across the mentorship-and-sponsorship spectrum that enable our success.”

Lopez’s experience with mentorship began years ago with his friendship with a former colleague. “That friendship opened up doors, he opened up his network, and we really charted a path together around the passion that I had for diversity and inclusion.”

His encounter with allyship came later and further changed the course of his career. “Allyship has been immensely important to me as a gay, Hispanic male in the workplace. My first corporate experience at Goldman Sachs was with someone tapping my shoulder and asking me to be part of the Pride Network. That's why I do this work in many ways. It's the reason why I pursued education in organizational behavior, because you know what? Organizations have the power to be good, and organizations have the power to unlock individuals' ability to be their authentic selves.”

McGirt pointed out that there’s no need for a formal program for people to act as a mentor, sponsor or ally–individuals who see the opportunity should act. Even so, Lopez said this kind of behavior must be “structurally enabled” to ensure that it will happen in an organization. Managers and leaders need to be given the trust and freedom to work out these behaviors, speak up on behalf of others, and elevate colleagues.

Lopez’s approach to fostering these roles at HPE is to embed inclusion in the corporate culture. “Unconditional inclusion is one of the key behaviors,” he said. “It’s a core behavior for our culture. It's embedded in how we define leadership from a competency perspective. So as we take managers through leadership training, we're unpacking the elements. We're talking about emotional intelligence, we're talking about courageous conversations, conflict management, managing across differences. All of those are elements of how we define leadership. So as we develop our mid-level managers as leaders, it's embedded in what they're thinking.”

Last year the company instituted listening sessions to support and respond to the needs of marginalized communities. The response was strong and encouraging, Lopez said, and HPE is now expanding these sessions across its global workforce. Application is key, of course, so these sessions are followed by action. “We are transparently posting the actions that come out of that, tracking the actions that executives have agreed to,” Lopez said. “That's a new internal level of transparency that I haven't seen. And we're using transparency as a motivator to keep us accountable toward action. So that's why I'm proud. It's not just listening, it's listening with works.”

Those works, Lopez said, should also be forward-looking. “When we're thinking about successors for leadership, we're also thinking, who are the diverse successors? And we're aligning to the development plans that need to be met in order to enable them to take those roles because, as you know, organizations are dynamic.” Succession planning is especially important amidst the Great Resignation. “As people come out of the pandemic, there's more talent movement, and inevitably you need to be ready to fill those positions. That requires advance planning,” Lopez said.

Thinking of those who may refrain from courageous acts of inclusion at the risk of making a misstep, McGirt asked, “How do you build a culture that is resilient and offers grace to people who might make a mistake?”

“Listen before you ask,” said Lopez. “And it’s hard. I mean, the notion of listening to individuals’ perspective and experience around this is powerful, but it's fundamental.”

Powerful acts of mentorship, sponsorship, and allyship can also be small ones. “There is no small act that isn't transformative. If the gentleman that had tapped me on the shoulder at Goldman Sachs, way, way, way long ago, the one who asked me to join the [pride] group, knew the impact that they had, I think it would be amazing. Those small acts really have meaningful ripple effects. So no matter where you're at in your journey, look for those. And please don't be scared to make mistakes. You know, failure is a blessing. I don't think anyone's going to blame anyone. If you say, ‘Hey, I'm trying to work on inclusion,’ and if you make a mistake, so be it. There is power in that. And so step into that power.”

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a writer, editor, and content strategist based in Richmond, Va.