The 3 Keys to Keeping an ERG Productive

Employee resource groups are a fantastic way to bring people together in a way that’s both productive and enjoyable. Given this dynamic, it’s easy for ERGs to begin as an affinity group and then end up being a levity group - a group where people have fun, enjoy each other’s company, and chit-chat instead of planning events and initiatives. This is actually a good problem to have. We want people in the workplace to feel comfortable around each other, where they open up, tell their jokes and stories, and share life experiences. BUT we also have bigger goals to accomplish.

So to find a balance and keep your ERGs productive, follow these three tips.  

Have a vision - Have a plan. This is first and foremost. When you first assemble the ERG, you want to have a vision and a mission statement asking the major questions of …

What is our purpose? What is our goal? What are we trying to accomplish? What does the ideal situation look like? How will we accomplish it? 

A vision keeps you focused, and a plan with metrics or milestones you can follow is the best way to keep you productive and moving forward. If things feel stagnant or you question the efficacy, just review your plan and vision, see where you are, adjust, course-correct, and get back on track. 

Stick to the script. For every meeting, have an agenda that you follow, someone to keep time to ensure you’re following the agenda, and if possible, have someone keep the meeting minutes to send out after the meeting. You can factor in 10 minutes of “ice breaking” chit-chat but have a prompt to keep that chit-chat productive. 

What’s something you remember from childhood? What was your first incident (something related to the ERG)? What’s something that can improve (something related to the ERG)?

Keeping an agenda with a timekeeper will guarantee you stay on track while including a break from the often serious nature of ERGs.

Listen to the people. Feedback - you need feedback. If you don’t know how the rest of the team is responding to the new initiatives and events, you won’t have an idea of what you need to fix, include, exclude, or adjust. Remember, with ERGs, you’re trying to attack big issues like racism, sexism, homophobia, accessibility, and inequality, and you’re also introducing completely foreign terms and concepts to many people, so you MUST take that into consideration. 

Start slow, be patient, expect feedback from the team, and be ready to deal with it, whether good or bad. We tend to jump into new initiatives and automatically assume everyone agrees or is on board. No. So, keep your ear to the streets, feel the pulse of the people, and keep an open floor and door for feedback.   

ERGs are critical to an organization's growth and improvement in all DEI-related areas. They hold great power, but that power has to be focused, or it can easily and quickly devolve into chaos. So make sure you have a vision, stick to the strict, and encourage feedback to give your ERG the best chance at making a difference.