You’ve just been told you’re in charge of your women’s ERG/BRG for the year. 

You’re pumped but also… now what?  How do you even get started?

Almost all ERG/BRGs are led on a volunteer basis.

This means organizers like yourself, who typically have a full-time job, also have to become customer insight experts, talent scouts, event planners and marketers.

We’ve worked with numerous women’s ERG/BRG leaders. Based on what we’ve seen here are the 5 steps the best first-time ERG/BRG leaders do to hit the ground running. (P.s. I’m also going to refer to them as “ERGs” going forward, but this applies to BRGs as well).

Step 0: Get leadership’s buy-in on your KPIs and annual budget

In the ideal scenario, this is already set by the time you step into the role, however, if it isn’t, start here. 

Budgets range significantly (we’ve seen everything from 15K to $1M+), however we see the same Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) over and over. Those tend to be:

• Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS): measures how employees feel about the company on a quantitative scale. Can be used to predict things like employee retention and engagement. For a full summary, check out this guide to eNPS. Ideally a strong ERG increases eNPS by offering high-quality support to the group. Best-in-class ERGs can analytically show that the work they are doing is upskilling the talent pool and increases the chances that top talent stays with the company.  
• ERG Net Promoter Score: measure how participants feel about the ERG. Can be used to determine how effective the support mechanisms like programming, networking and community-building are. 
• Advancement: measures if participants feel that the ERG has given them additional tools that have increased their chances of advancing in the organization.
• Retention: measures if participants feel that the ERG has given them additional tools that have increased their chances of staying with the organization.
  • Fun math: it costs 2x as much to replace an employee as it does to retain them, so if you can show that your ERG increases the chances of folks staying, you can assign a monetary value to that. For example, we partnered with an accounting firm to offer our AccelHERate program to an elite group of ~30 women who were on the cusp of promotion. This program decreased the intent to leave by 50%.  First-year partners at that firm are responsible for driving $5m in business, so retaining just 2 more of those folks was worth $10m to that firm. 
• Belonging: measures impact, if participants feel the ERG has helped them to belong in the organization (e.g., are confidently able to contribute their ideas and be who they are at work). You can read more about belonging at work here. 

As you can probably deduce, getting to the point where organizations are advancing and retaining female talent at rates equal to non-women is not a goal that can be achieved solely by a women’s ERG – leadership and allies are a critical part of the change (that’s why we offer programming for mixed audiences and leadership). However, research shows that having a community of other professional women increases chances of success by 2.5x, so ERGs are an important part of the mix – necessary but not sufficient. 

Step 1: Survey participants

This is the best, most efficient tool you have to establish a baseline (so you can measure impact) and also get the input necessary to offer effective programming. Your survey should measure: the KPIs (as identified in Step 0), strengths and opportunities for the ERG, and programming preferences. 

You also want to keep it to about 5 questions (that can be answered in under 3 minutes) so it yields a high response rate. 

Here is an example – of course you’ll want to tailor question number 1 and 2 to match your KPIs. 

Women’s ERG survey:

1. On a scale of 0 to 10 (with 0 being “not at all likely” and 10 being “very likely”), how likely are you to recommend working at this organization to a friend?
2. On a scale of 0 to 10 (with 0 being “not at all likely” and 10 being “very likely”), how likely are you to recommend being part of this ERG to a friend?
3. What do you believe this ERG has done well in the past and should preserve going forward?
4. What opportunities do you think this ERG has to do things better?
5. Of the below options, which content would you be most excited to see us offer in this upcoming year? Please choose 3. 

(Here you offer a list of potential content options. Things we see frequently are: negotiating, networking, productivity, personal branding, executive presence, communications, caregiving, confidence/the imposter syndrome, leadership, giving and receiving feedback, inclusion and authenticity).

See this guide for a quick how-to on analyzing the results of Net Promoter questions.

The key to a successful survey is to not overthink it. You can set something up in an hour and get results back within a week. I also find that sending a reminder the day before it’s due typically generates a good number of responses. 

Step 2: Build your programming calendar

In general, 80% of the ERGs we’ve worked with operate on the same calendar, one event per month.  

Some organizations tweak this by removing a month where workloads surge (e.g., accountants in April).

Once you’ve settled on the number of events, the next step is to figure out the type of event. Across 12 events, we generally recommend: 4 leadership development sessions, 4 group discussions, 1-2 panels, and 3-4 social events. That could look something like this:

Some ERGs choose to establish a signature event that they do annually, sometimes even inviting clients and vendors to further strengthen relationships (e.g., family picnic, Women’s History Month conference, Leadership Day, etc.); others choose to switch it up every year. Personally, I love a signature event, but it’s a lot of work, so I wouldn’t recommend tackling that until everything else is running smoothly 80% of the time. 

Step 3: Lock in speakers and panelists

Great speakers and panelists will carry the event. The goal is for your participants to feel like this was a good use of their time because they will keep showing up and recommend the organization to others.

Great speakers book 6-12 months out, and strong panelists (often leaders in your organization) also have very full calendars. The earlier you can lock these folks in, the better your chances of securing high-quality guests. 

If you have a content need and would like a speaker recommendation, feel free to reach out to us at info@worthmorestrategies.com. We keep a running list of speakers we’ve heard good things about and organize it by content area; if we can’t meet your need, we’re happy to recommend others that can.

Step 4: Execute the plan

You have your KPIs and budget, you’ve determined your participants needs, laid out your programming calendar and secured great speakers and panelists. Now you execute the plan.

You’ll want to manage the logistics (Is it in-person? Where? Virtual? On what platform?), market the events ahead of time, and juggle any last-minute changes.

Step 5: Measure your impact

Remember the survey from step #1? At the end of the year, we’re going to run that one again.  

This does two things.

First, it allows you to measure the impact of the work you did. Do you see those KPIs improving? Nice job! This is what you show the leadership team to keep them supporting the ERG.  

Second, it gives the next leadership team (or you, if you’re planning on running the ERG a second year) everything necessary to line up high-quality programming again.

Need help? 

Running a women’s ERG alongside your full-time job can be a challenge. You’re expected to juggle everything from event planning to participant engagement, often with limited resources and time.

That’s why we created THRIVE – your roadmap to a full year of high-quality women’s programming customized to what your participants need.

If you’re interested in alleviating the event planning burden while providing best-in-class content to your participants, email us at info@worthmorestrategies.com and we can set up a call to discuss a tailored program for your women’s group.