Annual Employee Resource Group (ERG) Leadership Workshop
Challenge
ERG leaders take on additional, voluntary responsibility when they become a chair of an ERG. It is important to invest in the development of those who take on these roles and position them for success by providing them with the necessary tools to be an effective ERG leader. In addition to serving their respective ERGs, it is equally important to allow them to demonstrate additional skills that will serve them in their day to day roles.
Actions
Partnered with KornFerry on the delivery of a 3 hour, highly interactive workshop for ERG co-chairs and their leadership teams.
The workshops focused on three key areas:
• Positioning your ERG as a strategic resource
• Meeting the needs of the organization
• Gaining the support needed from leaders to deliver on desired objectives and ROI
One of the key exercises of the session was to have each of the ERG leaders anonymously share their perception of the other ERGs. Each ERG leader then had time to reflect on the feedback they received from their peers and strategize on how they would want to make improvements given the information provided in an effort to ultimately ensure that perception aligns with purpose.
Outcomes
As a result of the workshop, collectively the ERGs rebranded and refocused their mission statements to better meet the needs of their members. ERGs shifted the focus of their programming and events to be more high impact, high results oriented. This has resulted in an increase in senior leadership engagement and over a 200% increase in new members in 2017.
Contact
Janessa Cox-Irvin
Quote
At AllianceBernstein, we are utterly committed to protecting our values and ensuring diversity and inclusion are part of the fabric of our organization. And as CEO, it starts with me. It is important that I am accountable for the progress we make on these efforts. I encourage everyone at the firm to think creatively - about how we hire, how we do business, how we engage and collaborate with one another. I am proud to be a part of the collective CEO Action and I look forward to leading the advancement of our firm's diversity and inclusion initiatives.