How to set up ERG executive sponsors for success

Employee resource groups (ERGs) can be an important pillar of a sound DE&I strategy, especially when executive sponsorship is involved. But that isn’t always so simple.

Sharitta Marshall was a global ERG senior project manager at Udemy before she started her own consulting firm. Reflecting on her years in the corporate realm, which includes stints as a project manager, diversity strategist, staffing consultant, and business analyst at companies like Choice Hotels, Xerox, and the fintech company TSYS, she places a heavy emphasis with her clients on implementing ERG programs with strong executive sponsorship.

Marshall guides clients along nine best practices to keep in mind when choosing and onboarding an executive sponsor. She shared them with HR Brew in an interview and by email.

1. Offer orientation and onboarding. Make sure the sponsors understand the mission, values, and goals of the ERG as a whole. “Executive sponsors are crucial to effective ERGs, and they definitely need to have roles and responsibilities as well as an onboarding process,” Marshall told HR Brew.
2. Provide clarity of role and expectations. Make the time commitments and needs of the organization very clear. “A lot of executive sponsors are either volun-told, or volunteer, but they have no idea what to do. They have no idea what’s expected of them…and sometimes they take on the role without actually having the bandwidth,” Marshall explained.

“The roles and responsibilities need to be the same for every executive sponsor, no matter the ERG that they’re over,” she later added.

1. Allocate resources and support. Provide them with information, guides, DE&I training, data, and networking opportunities.
2. Encourage engagement and listening. Have them take an active role in understanding the sentiments of ERG members and how they can be helped through actions of senior leadership. “They should be available for quarterly meetings with the entire ERG, but they should be able to at least check in with a meeting [around] once a month with their ERG leads, and they should be a sponsor for them in their career path,” said Marshall.
3. Communicate value and impact. Tie the success of the ERG to the overall success of the company through retention, representation, and other key metrics if possible. “C-suite level executives [often] don’t see an ROI for ERGs. They would like to have diversity within an organization, they would like to have ERGs, but they just don’t see the ROI from them,” Marshall said.
4. Host regular check-ins and feedback sessions. Honest feedback between ERG sponsors, program managers, and company leadership are key to ensuring a successful ERG program.
5. Promote ERG within their sphere of influence. Encourage sponsors to promote the ERG within their teams and broader company, particularly its events or initiatives.
6. Ensure continuity of sponsorship. Consider succession planning in case executives leave.
7. Acknowledge and recognize efforts. Making sure executives are receiving credit, while tying their efforts to key company metrics, can ensure a long-lasting and effective ERG program.

Ultimately, Marshall said, an inclusive culture is a matter of creating a psychologically safe environment and a culture of respect so that all people feel welcome at the company.

“As a Black woman who has had over 17 years of experience in corporate America, I found that I was never really psychologically safe where I was,” she said. “I always felt like that shouldn’t be the case, but I accepted it. Now as a consultant…I don’t want people who look like me, or are in marginalized or underrepresented groups, to feel that way.”