ERG Sponsors

First, another big round of virtual applause goes to our panelist who led the way in helping us to uncover key insights on how to get even more value out of the ERG Executive Sponsor role.

The following links will take you to the meeting slides and the meeting recording, respectively.

In addition to the links, attached you will find the meeting notes taken by Eric Davis. In his note to me,, Eric took the time to also summarize what he felt were a few key highlights in our discussion, which I thought were worth sharing with you. So here's my quick summary of his highlights:

Our discussion focused on three next practices uncovered in our latest study on how ERGs can be leveraged to build leader at all levels of the organization that relate to expectations set forth for executive sponsors of ERG/BRGs. These up-and-coming ERG powered leadership development practices included:

Sponsors actively sourcing for talent for roles in the organization from among members of the ERG's leadership
Sponsors actively sponsoring and advocating on behalf of those talented individuals for open positions to enhance their career growth and bring more value to the organization
Sponsors leveraging their executive sponsor role as an opportunity to further develop themselves as executives, leaders and sponsors of other highly visible corporate projects and initiatives

Comments from the panelist as well as participants, had the following recurring themes in their suggestion for how to encourage the adoption of these next practices.

Find an people to fill the executive sponsor role who possess a passion for the affinity, or who want to learn about the group for their own growth.
Make the group leadership and executive sponsor role a hip opportunity so it’s an honor to be involved.
Use multiple executive sponsors from cross functional areas to split the workload and increase the impact they can have via networking, talent exposure and self-development without overburdening any one person.
By putting the right people into close proximity, the strategy is that these next practice behaviors will take place organically over time. Exposure to those leaders in the right context is the goal.
Several acknowledged by the end of the meeting that it might be worth communicating these talent development expectations more up-front so the potential sponsor will be immediately aware of the possibilities.

In essense, most advice followed a "plant the right seed in the right soil, so that nature can do it's work" rather than trying to force or over-engineer these practices.

Another item that came up is that currently executive sponsors development has been less formal and more about the sponsor becoming aware of a group or overcoming a blind-spot than about learning any particular skill. Some, commentors however, noted the value of sponsors being better listeners, coaches and persuaders. Perhaps, it might be of value to provide some type of formal training around thee skills to sponsors.

As always, feel free to send in any questions or comments. I look forward to our next meeting January 16 from 12 Noon to 2 PM ET. The focus of discussion for that meeting will be the corporate advantages resulting from being effective in leveraging people with various disabilities in our workforce.

Have a great rest of your day and a wonderful weekend.

All my best,

Joe

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