Walking the Talk: ERGs, BRGs and Working Groups That Boost Belonging

Whether your organization refers to them as employee resource groups, business resource groups, working groups or something else entirely, giving employees the chance to join a cohort of colleagues who share their identity, values and lived experiences can nurture a culture of belonging that deepens each employee’s commitment to your organization.

You’ll learn:

  • Making room: What it takes to launch a group that’s engaged and consistently nurtured, including considerations like meeting cadence, scope of influence and touchpoints across the organization.
  • Leadership support: How to bring in executive sponsors who are empowered and able to champion the group’s ideas among the organization and with other leaders.
  • Tactful Tapping: How to engage ERGs in wider business and culture moments while respecting their time, autonomy and workload.
  • Widening impact: Best practices for encouraging groups to participate in community outreach and volunteer efforts that align with your organization’s larger mission and purpose.
  • Holding space: Creating a labeling system that identifies rules of engagement for each meeting to protect the experience of each ERG member while still being inclusive of allies who don’t directly identify with the identity of the group.
  • Crisis support: How you can design and activate these groups to inform corporate decision-making, mitigate crises and close the gap between words and actions.
  • Kasey C. Wood
    Associate Director of Organizational Effectiveness
    GLISI
  • Meca B. Mohammed, PhD
    VP, Operations & Talent
    GLISI