Culture, Oct 04, 2023

DE&I maturity for ERGs and diversity councils part 4: Belonging and impact needs

Rhea Horton

As we continue our series on Credera’s employee resource groups (ERGs)/diversity councils (DC) Hierarchy of Transformation, we focus on belonging and impact.

Whilst level one and level two will largely be consistent across organisations as they pertain to foundational needs, levels three and above will be highly customisable to each organisation depending on your specific needs, desires, employees, and structures. There may be certain ideas and recommendations mentioned in this blog post and subsequent posts that may or may not apply to you. Therefore, it’s important to build on your organisation’s foundation, culture, and people as you make progress toward transformation.

Why am I here and what do I measure?

Belonging and impact represent two sides of the same coin. On one side, establishing belonging looks like cultivating an environment where employees are connected to a greater purpose to drive people-centric impact. Some ways to drive a sense of belonging include providing opportunities for career development and community service.

On the other side, impact is all about establishing metrics that matter to showcase that impact and assess the health of the group. You can’t have one without the other, both work together to drive, measure, reassess strategic initiatives for improvement, and enhance impact. But, like previous levels, implementing these ideas are easier said than done. Your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) groups may have an amazing culture but notice that employees lack attachment and connection to the greater mission. Maybe your ERG or DC does a great job of giving employees a greater sense of belonging, but you don’t really know the best way to measure it or tie it to the greater business strategy.

Keys to driving and measuring impact

1. Provide opportunities for professional development, internally and externally.

A greater sense of belonging is achieved when members feel supported in all aspects of their lives, including their professional work. Providing career development opportunities not only helps your members grow, but also deepens the connections with peers and senior leaders.

2. Facilitate volunteer opportunities with organizations in the local community.

Rallying behind an organisation in the local community allows members of your DE&I groups to be reminded of a greater purpose and mission whilst also deepening relationships with their peers.

3. Ensure quality data is accessible and representative.

Before we decide what we’re going to measure, we must first ensure the data to measure is readily available and accessible. Make sure your organisation’s data is available and is the right data for achieving your objectives.

4. Establish and track key performance indicators.

Defining key performance indicators (KPIs) will help your organisation assess the health of various DE&I initiatives and hold you accountable to your goals. Building a structure for tracking and reporting will ensure that once KPIs are established, they are used to make decisions that have more of a positive impact on your people.

Up next

In the next installment of our ERG/DC Hierarchy of Transformation, we will talk about the importance of establishing respect and alignment within your DE&I groups. As a quick preview, level four, respect and alignment, focuses on incorporating collective voices and perspectives to gain strategic alignment with the overall business plan.

Create a sense of belonging and measure what matters

There are many ways to create belonging within your organisation. Listening to your people in regards to how to support them professionally and build community external to the organisation is the first step in understanding what makes them feel connected to each other and to the greater mission of your group. The KPIs you establish within your ERGs/DCs will also depend on the strategic objectives of the business, and collectively the goals should be complementary in helping you achieve the overall business objectives.

Get in touch with one of our ERG/DC and DE&I experts for more information on how Credera’s ERG/DC Hierarchy of Transformation can be used to create connected communities, define metrics that matter, or build reporting processes and structures.

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