From the course: Achieving Employee Resource Group Excellence

The evolution of an ERG: From ERG to BRG

From the course: Achieving Employee Resource Group Excellence

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The evolution of an ERG: From ERG to BRG

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All right. So, once ERGs are formed, they often go through a very natural evolution or maturity and that over time, their scope and the things that they focus on tends to expand. So, for example, let's look at a Latino community. Oftentimes when a Latino ERG will start, they very much will focus on that affinity component of an ERG. So, they'll... the members of the Latino ERG will look at that social aspect. Hey, I want to meet other Latinos in the workplace. I want to build my network with other Latinos. In fact, oftentimes ERGs when they start are oftentimes referred to as affinity networks because that focuses on that social connections. What typically happens then is over time, as they mature, as they evolve, those ERGs expand their impact. So, in this particular example, the Latino ERGs will still continue due to those social connections. But now it's very common for that Latino ERG to start to look at ways to advance the careers of their Latino professionals. Maybe find ways to help the community of Hispanics be better connected with the organization. So, the focus of the ERG will evolve over time. And then eventually what many ERGs aspire to reach to is to get to a level where they are often referred to as Business Resource Groups where they still do the social aspects, they add the career and community outreach component. But now, the Latino ERG is looking for ways to help the business. Can we help the company market to Latino consumers? Can we serve as a resource to the organizations to gain insights into the Hispanic market? And that's an example of a typical evolution that Employee Resource Groups go through. Every ERG will evolve, but some go through this evolution faster than others.

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