Diversity and inclusion was always important, but now it’s hot, meaning that people are paying attention to it like never before. Senior executives are looking to diversify their teams and boards, while D&I professionals are striving to find the best way to engage employees, educate them, and ultimately change their behavior.
That’s where employee resource groups (ERGs) have come in. Through trial and error, employers are discovering that ERGs can make D&I goals a reality faster than many other initiatives.
Like D&I initiatives, ERGs are also not new. Their roots are in the 1960s race riots in Rochester, N.Y. Back then, the CEO of Xerox decided that he wanted to do something to address racial equality, so he initiated what was then called the Black Caucus. From there, such efforts came to be known as affinity groups, then employee resource groups. Now there are even more custom names: business networks, business resource groups, etc.
Based on a long-term study of ERGs that I’ve been doing, utilizing multiple sets from over 100 companies, I can say with confidence that being in an ERG has positive impacts on individual employee attitudes and behaviors, as well as how teams work together. All of which often impacts customer acquisition and retention, while trickling down to bottom-line business results.
I’ve been studying energy for many years and looking at the energy patterns of employees as they join and work in their ERGs. Here are some comments from ERG members about how their ERG is impacting their own personal energy at work:
In chemistry, collision theory states that molecules must collide to get a reaction. Moreover, it takes energy to collide. By examining employee energy at work within ERGs, I propose the Collision Theory of ERGs. Here’s how it works:
Here’s the funny thing about ERGs that is very counterintuitive: People join ERGs to be with others like them. Thus, one may wonder, Where’s the collision?
They aren’t really in the ERG so much as inspired by being in the ERG: When people join ERGs, their confidence increases. As confidence increases, individuals are more willing to take chances. For example, members may go to meetings they did not attend in the past or perhaps take on a leadership role, resulting in involvement in new situations.
Additionally, as an ERG’s members get more engaged, they are in situations within the overall organizational ERG community that involve engaging with members of other ERGs. These new interactions can be characterized as collisions. Thus, the Collision Theory of ERGs has two parts:
Organizations interested in helping employees change behavior can learn from the ERG process. The Collision Theory of ERGs suggests that creating situations where people collide, just like molecules, has the potential to provide the spark or energy needed to reflect, learn, and change behavior.
