The number of employee resource groups has been growing continuously for the last five years. All indicators show that this growth rate will continue. Why? Because employee resource groups are an excellent in-house resource – internal consultants, if you will. Employee resource groups, if optimized, can add tremendous value to business results, talent development and innovation.
The Center for Workforce Excellence believes that employee resource groups are an underutilized resource. The reason behind this is that many organizations don’t recognize the strategic value of these groups. Many are happy with these groups hosting social gatherings. Senior leaders love to say to the world that they have employee resource groups. But the question is – are you optimizing these groups? Are you tapping into their capabilities to develop new products, drive collaboration, improve retention and drive cultural change? These are just a few of the areas that CWE has been able to help our clients optimize the contribution of employee resource groups.
Click here to read a case study on the tremendous value that fully-optimized ERGs offer.
Our programs can be customized to meet the specific needs of your organization. Whether you are just starting an employee resource group, or your organization wants to jump start an employee resource group that has been in existence for a while, we can help.
The sample program overview (below) will give you an idea of the approach that CWE takes to unlock the potential of employee resource groups.
Employee Resource Groups: Sample Content Curriculum
90% of all businesses have employee resource groups. Yet most organizations have not realized the FULL benefits these groups can offer. Many of these groups, in fact, have become silos. And few companies have a group that represents the dominant culture of the organization – white men.
Employee resource groups of ALL kinds, if developed and optimized, can contribute in a very strategic way to the organization's ability to experience success, including product development, recruiting/retention strategies, marketing, talent development and cultural transformation.
As part of this session, participants will…
- Learn new capabilities to enhance the development of authentic and productive working relationships
- Achieve a personal breakthrough on paradigms, beliefs and stereotypes
- Be able to overcome barriers for learning how to connect across differences
- Be empowered to serve as agents of change to drive new ways to engage employees, build innovative services for the consumer and encourage cultural transformation
- Learn how to serve as a more inspiring, courageous and impactful leader
- Be trained on how to build authentic and empowered relationships in the workplace
This program has been designed to promote a highly-interactive and candid exchange about the impact that the group can have on creating an environment where ALL employees can thrive. The experiential learning components of this program are designed to build new leadership capabilities in these change agents.
Leaders of employee resource groups need to be equipped to "be the change that they wish to see." The time has come to touch the truth about why people can't get along in the work environment and develop meaningful solutions to overcome this challenge.
Format…
The ideal timeframe for this program is 1.5 days. Focus is placed on the following key modules:
- IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory) assessment review
- Dominant and subordinate group dynamics/unconscious bias in the workplace
- Connecting across differences–experiential learning
- Engaging in courageous conversations about the journey
- Building authentic and empowered partnerships to influence the organization
- Employee resource groups and organizational effectiveness (this module focuses on the participants assessing a real challenge that the organization faces and developing a meaningful strategy to overcome that challenge)
- New capabilities that promote appreciative listening, decision making and action that enforces new standards of engagement across cultures
- Personal action plan development to support continued learning
Pre-program Activities…
All participants must complete the IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory). This tool is used to help participants understand what it means to engage in a way that allows them to respect, value and understand cultural nuances that are different from their own.
Post-program Support…
Executive coaching is available to support the continued development of participants (ask here for more details).
Contact us today if you are ready to finally achieve excellence
through your Employee Resource Groups!