As today’s organizations struggle to attract, retain and develop a talented diverse workforce, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are often asked to play key roles in diversity-and-inclusion (D&I) change efforts. But they cannot do it alone. To be most effective, they must be part of the package; they cannot be the package.
ERGs serve a wide variety of value-adding functions: providing support, coaching, and mentoring to individuals from underrepresented or marginalized groups; networking to attract and retain diverse talent; leading brand-enhancing philanthropic activities; identifying changes needed in HR and management policies and practices. Still, in many organizations, ERGs are viewed as little more than social clubs that add little bottom-line value.
The following six traps often prevent ERGs from contributing effectively to organizational D&I change initiatives.
Trap #1: ERGs becoming THE initiative
Ideally, ERGs should provide two separate functions: providing personal and professional support for members who previously had limited access to such support and identifying changes needed to address internal and external needs and opportunities that would be invisible without the ERGs’ unique perspectives.
In too many organizations, ERGs are the engine of change. When that happens, both functions are blunted. No matter how well-defined, supported, or resourced, ERGs are not in themselves a transformation, and by themselves, they cannot transform an organization.
What’s needed: ERGs work must be one element of a larger mission-critical strategy with a clear connection to bottom-line objectives; outcomes and accountabilities.
Trap #2: ERGs taking the place of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
Ideally, an organization’s policies and practices should be re-examined and updated continuously to support a culture of inclusion that attracts, retains and develops a diversity of talent.
Too many organizations make ERGs primarily responsible for identifying the policies and practices in need of a change without the mechanisms to approve or implement those changes.
What’s needed: Organizations need to invest in developing the internal capabilities, knowledge, and skills within HR to create best-practice policies to support the organization’s D&I objectives. HR SMEs should constantly look for ways to improve policies and practices. ERGs can be a sounding board in this process. Too often, the process is reversed, which does not hold HR fully accountable.
Trap #3: ERG leadership participation not part of performance management processes
Ideally, ERG participation should be recognized as an “over-and-above” contribution to assist the organization in reaching bottom-line-related objectives.
In too many organizations, managers don’t fully recognize that contribution. Too often, ERG members are viewed as working on their group’s agenda and with ERG participation seen as detracting from day-to-day performance.
What’s needed: ERG leadership should be included in the performance management process with an understanding by managers that involvement in an ERG is contributing to specific organizational goals. Managers need to be aware of the actions and ways in which the individual has contributed to helping to drive those goes into their day to day performance and able to discuss as part of performance reviews.
Trap #4: ERGs not seen as additive
Ideally, ERGs are broadly understood as directly adding value to achieving organizational goals.
But in too many organizations, ERGs, and D&I efforts in general, are seen as a: “a nice thing to do,”; a response to an HR regulatory issue; or, as a social club for “select groups,” and not as something mission-critical for furthering the organization’s goals.
What’s needed: For ERGs – or any organizational change efforts — to be most effective, senior leaders need to make sure ERGs have a mission-critical connection to the core business of the organization. The organization needs to communicate the ways in which ERGs are bringing value to the overall effort of change and position ERGs as “need to do,” not “nice to do.”
Trap #5: ERGs lacking active leadership support
Ideally, ERGs are supported with sponsorship and active participation by senior leaders. This provides visibility, a voice, and organization-wide credibility.
In too many organizations, however, leaders bear little or no responsibility for listening to or acting on recommendations coming out of ERG’s.
What’s needed: Leaders at all levels need to be held accountable for investing the time, effort, and energy to attend ERG meetings, learn about the issues various identity group members face, and educate their peers and direct reports about the issues and opportunities identified by ERGs. Leaders must be active leaders in creating change.
Trap #6: ERGs doing ALL the heavy lifting
Ideally, inclusive mindsets and behaviors should be the everyday norm for every interaction within an organization.
Too many organizations, however, delegate (or relegate) the job of creating an inclusive environment and calling out behaviors that are not supportive to the ERGs. This delegation of responsibility makes a clear statement that fostering inclusion is not a manager’s job– because if it were, then managers and leaders would be held accountable for doing so.
ERGs can help identify practices in need of change and provide role models for inclusive behaviors and collaborations. But ERGs cannot be expected to be the organization’s Inclusion Police.
What’s needed: For a successful change effort, leaders at all levels must be held accountable for acquiring and demonstrating the mindsets, behaviors, and capabilities to support a diverse and inclusive workplace. The ability to lead, manage and develop a diverse workforce becomes a critical competency for promotions. Team members, in turn would also be accountable for their skills and abilities to interact effectively in diverse teams.
Without this accountability, an organization cannot transform its work environment and leverage the diverse talents of its workforce.
How to position your organization’s ERGs for success
These common traps have a common origin: a lack of a clear, over-arching strategy that demonstrates how a more diverse and inclusive culture is vital to achieving the organization’s vision, mission, strategies, and bottom-line objectives with the active involvement and accountability of senior leadership and the development of new skills and competencies for all.
Within this context, ERGs can bring a magnitude of positive energy – but only as one aspect of a comprehensive change strategy owned by all parts of the organization.
About the Authors:
As Executive Vice President and CEO (respectively) for The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, Inc., Judith H. Katz and Frederick A. Miller have helped Fortune 100 companies leverage people’s differences, increase engagement, and transform workplaces for more than 50 years. Contributors to several seminal books in the field, they are the co-authors of The Inclusion Breakthrough: Unleashing the Real Power of Diversity; Be BIG: Step Up, Step Out, Be Bold; Opening Doors to Teamwork and Collaboration: 4 Keys that Change EVERYTHING; and Safe Enough to Soar: Accelerating Trust, Inclusion, and Collaboration in the Workplace. Judith serves on the Board of Trustees of Fielding Graduate. Fred serves on the boards of Day & Zimmermann, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Manufacturing Innovation Center, and Hudson Real Estate Partners.