From the course: Achieving Employee Resource Group Excellence

Overview of how to achieve ERG excellence

From the course: Achieving Employee Resource Group Excellence

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Overview of how to achieve ERG excellence

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Hello, I'm Doctor Robert Rodriguez, the President and Founder of DRR Advisors, a diversity consulting group. And one of the areas of my expertise are employee resource groups, which are often also called ERGs. Today, ERGs are very prevalent in organizations, and they have often become a critical component of an organization's diversity, equity and inclusion strategy. So because of that, it's critical that we've tried to find ways to elevate the impact and performance of these employee resource groups. And that's what we're going to focus on today. Over the course of my career, I've worked with about 300 organizations, helping them elevate the performance of their ERGs. I've done a lot of research on ERGs. I even wrote a book called Employee Resource Group Excellence. So in today's workshop, we're going to focus on providing you with tips and strategies to elevate ERG performance. Now, I personally have a very close connection with ERGs. You know, I'm of Hispanic Latino descent. I was born in Texas, but I grew up in Minnesota, and Minnesota is a great place to live. Great place to raise a family. But at least when I was growing up in Minnesota back in the late 80s, early 90s, there was not a very large Hispanic Latino community in the Minneapolis, Saint Paul Twin Cities. So because of that, I struggled a bit of my sense of Hispanic identity. I didn't know if I should shout it from the rooftop and be unapologetically proud of my Hispanic heritage, or if it's something that I should downplay. But fortunately for me, some of my early employers when I joined Corporate America had employee resource groups. And in fact, over the course of my career, I've been a member of an ERG, I've been the president of an employee resource group. I even have served as an executive sponsor. So I know firsthand the impact that ERGs can have on an individual. You know, for me personally, ERGs helped me to be much more comfortable in my own skin. They gave me a community to be a part of. They elevated my visibility capability and promotability. So I'm hoping that the lessons you'll learn today will help you not only to create initiatives that elevate the performance of your ERG, but also for organizations who are looking to create the conditions that nurture ERG success, you'll walk away with some key insights. So the objectives for this session today are first, to provide all of you with a much more textured understanding of and appreciation for ERGs. Next, we're going to explore the 4C ERG model, which is a very common strategic framework for employee resource groups. We're going to study ERG trends and best practices. And ultimately we're going to provide you with tips and strategies to help you make sure that your ERG has a holistic value proposition and ultimately achieve ERG excellence. So let's go ahead and get started.

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