Leveraging Top Talent for ERG Leadership
Challenge
Identifying top talent to lead our Employee Resource Groups provides value to team members and the company.
Actions
We have created a formal process with Human Resources to fill our Employee Resource Group leadership roles (Presidents, Executive Advisors and HR Consultants) from top talent lists to better position ERG leadership as experiential development opportunities. Current ERG leaders participate in the screening and interviews, and are included in final candidate selections.
Outcomes
As Wells Fargo transitions from employee resource groups to business resource groups, this process has been instrumental in identifying senior-level leaders with significant business acumen to support our ERGs and to elevate these roles as formal professional development of future leaders. In addition, the leaders who serve in these roles are better positioned to impact the contributions our ERGs make in support of the company’s business goals. According to an annual survey of our ERG leaders, more than 95% of them would recommend serving in these roles to their peers. A significant benefit of this approach to leveraging top talent for an experiential development role, is the enhanced cultural competence development that is gained, including the ability to lead and manage diverse, matrixed, national and international teams.
Contact
Bryan Gingrich, Ph.D.
Quote
Reaching any ambitious goal requires specific, sustained commitment from leaders and engagement from all levels of the company, including our board of directors. At Wells Fargo, D&I is a core value, and we’ve made substantial progress in areas like developing diverse leaders, growing our diverse supplier base, lending to diverse customers, and supporting diverse nonprofit partners. We are working hard to build an even better Wells Fargo and to move closer to the goals we set for ourselves — both for our own team members and for the customers we serve. Learning from other great companies is one way to make that happen.