Five Steps to Build a Transformative Employee Resource Group
Employee resource groups are integral to building a more inclusive workplace culture. If you’re looking to build employee resource groups from the ground up within your organization, the steps I outline here will help you do just that. You might be new to the organization and want to help create change, or you may be ready to take on a new leadership role within your organization and create and lead an ERG. Either way, these five steps can guide you down a pathway of building transformative employee resource groups.
Create: Finding Your ERG People
Get clear about why you want to start an ERG and begin talking to colleagues who may want to join the leadership and/or implementation team. Along the way when searching for your ERG partners and leaders, you just might find a variety of folks who want to join and who can support and advocate for the ERG.
Focus: Align the Mission, Vision, and Purpose
You will want to establish a mission and vision that will help guide the ERG. What do you want from this group and how will you get there? Ensure the mission aligns whenever possible with your organization's values. Getting clear on these pieces will help you create the charter for your ERG, which is a foundational document that outlines how the ERG will function and why.
Strategize: Get Support for Starting Your ERG
Ask for what you need to get the ERG off the ground. Be strategic in what you ask for and who you ask. Continue to build the organizational case for why ERGS are indispensable and use that to advocate for support.
Transformational Change: Building Foundational Structures of ERG Leadership
Plan meetings and create a structure that minimizes the burden on leadership and makes it easy for members to be excited and to show up. Building an organizational structure for the ERG that shares power and is intentional will help your leadership and ERG members stay engaged and reap the benefits of memberships.
Engage: Roles Your ERG Plays
ERGs create an affinity space, advocate for change, and build a space for professional development, which all strengthen your organization. Over time, you’ll learn how to balance the multiple roles the ERG plays in your organization. Continue to come back to the mission, vision, and purpose of the ERG and whether those things continue to serve the ERG members and the larger DEI goals of your organization
Interested in diving deeper into each of these steps? I’ll be launching the Transformational ERG Toolkit in August. It will provide all the information you need to create an ERG. Sign up to be the first to know when it’s available.
As a result of going through the self-paced Tool kit, new ERG leaders will be able to:
Identify at least five other potential ERG leaders or members in their organization
Draft your ERG charter, including your mission, vision, and goals
Decide on and build a basic leadership structure
Create a budget and collect information to demonstrate the return on investment
Set priorities for a year of affinity advocacy and professional development with the ERG
