From Community to Strategic Impact: Developing ERG Leaders at a Global Publishing Company
Background
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) have evolved into strategic drivers of employee engagement, leadership development, and organizational culture. As organizations continue to ask ERGs to contribute more strategically, leaders are increasingly challenged to strengthen governance, prevent volunteer burnout, and align ERG efforts with broader business priorities. According to Seramount's 2026 Inclusion Predictions, organizations are revisiting ERG charters, aligning ERGs more closely with business goals, and relying more heavily on ERGs to carry inclusion efforts forward.
Research from McKinsey & Company further reinforces the importance of investing in ERG effectiveness, finding that employees who perceive their ERGs as effective are significantly more likely to feel included at work (83% compared with 59%). Effective ERGs don't simply foster community—they strengthen belonging, leadership development, and organizational connection.
To strengthen the long-term impact of its ERG community, the publishing giant partnered with Reimagine Talent to conduct a comprehensive ERG Leadership Health Scan and design a customized leadership development experience grounded in participant insights. Through surveys, focus groups, organizational discovery, and an interactive leadership summit, the engagement equipped ERG leaders with a shared framework to strengthen stakeholder partnerships, increase cross-ERG collaboration, and elevate their impact as organizational leaders.
“The Reimagine Talent Team were great partners! The leadership summit was particularly helpful, but I loved learning more about the history of ERGs and wished more people had the chance to study this!”
The Opportunity
Employee Resource Group leaders play a unique role within organizations. They cultivate community, champion employee engagement, and help advance organizational priorities, all while balancing full-time responsibilities and volunteer leadership.
The publishing giant recognized an opportunity to better understand the current health of its ERG ecosystem while investing in the continued development of its ERG co-chairs. Rather than beginning with a leadership workshop alone, the organization sought a partner who could first assess the current state of its ERG community, identify opportunities to strengthen leadership effectiveness, operational consistency, and long-term sustainability while designing an experience that reflected the voices and needs of its ERG leaders.
The goal extended beyond delivering a successful summit. It was to create a stronger foundation for sustainable ERG leadership by combining assessment, strategy, leadership development, and measurable evaluation into one cohesive engagement.
Our Discovery
Every Reimagine Talent engagement begins with listening.
To develop a comprehensive understanding of the publishing giant’s ERG ecosystem, Reimagine Talent conducted a multi-phase discovery process that included:
ERG Leadership Health Scan
ERG Leader Survey
Facilitated Focus Groups
Stakeholder Conversations
Organizational Discovery
This process surfaced several recurring themes that informed the design of the experience:
A desire to better operationalize ERG leadership across the organization.
Opportunities to strengthen executive sponsorship and stakeholder engagement.
Greater consistency in governance and leadership practices across ERGs.
Increased collaboration and knowledge sharing between ERG leaders.
Clearer measures of success and long-term sustainability.
Continued investment in leadership development for ERG co-chairs.
Rather than relying on assumptions, every aspect of the learning experience was intentionally designed around participant insights.
Our Approach
Using insights gathered through discovery, Reimagine Talent designed a customized leadership development experience that moved participants through a complete consulting journey.
Assess: Understand the current ERG landscape through surveys, focus groups, and stakeholder discovery.
Synthesize: Analyze participant insights to identify recurring themes, opportunities, and organizational priorities.
Develop: Design a highly customized leadership summit rooted in participant experiences and organizational goals.
Facilitate: Guide ERG leaders through interactive learning experiences that combine reflection, peer learning, stakeholder strategy, and action planning.
Evaluate: Measure participant experience, gather qualitative feedback, and identify opportunities for future partnership and organizational growth.
Every discussion, activity, and reflection connected directly back to participant voices gathered during discovery.
The Experience
Rather than delivering traditional leadership training, the summit created space for ERG leaders to step away from day-to-day execution and think strategically about their evolving roles within the publishing giant.
Through facilitated conversations, collaborative activities, and practical application, participants explored stakeholder relationships, leadership identity, governance, collaboration, and organizational influence.
Experiences including the following encouraged leaders to exchange ideas, challenge assumptions, and identify practical strategies they could immediately implement within their ERGs.
Stakeholder Mapping
The Four Ps Framework
Start • Stop • Continue reflection
Peer learning
Action planning
The experience strengthened both individual leadership capabilities and the collective impact of the publishing giant’s ERG community.
Our Results
From initial discovery through post-engagement evaluation, the engagement received exceptional feedback from both organizational stakeholders and participants.
4.88 / 5
Average Facilitator Rating
4.13 / 5
Overall Training Value
10/10
Client Net Promoter Score
Participants highlighted the interactive facilitation, practical application, and leadership-focused conversations as particularly valuable.
The engagement earned a perfect Net Promoter Score, reflecting the strength of the partnership, the relevance of the experience, and participants' confidence in Reimagine Talent's collaborative approach:
“Working with Reimagine Talent was truly a dream partnership from day one! The level of professionalism, collaborative spirit, and commitment to the work far exceeded my expectations. There was not one moment during our working together where I didn't feel supported, heard, and valued. Our community is beyond fortunate to have made this connection with Reimagine Talent. I'm so looking forward to our continued working relationship and will continue to recommend them far and wide!”
— DIRECTOR, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
Organizational Impact
Beyond leadership development, the engagement provided the publishing giant with actionable insights into the current state of its ERG ecosystem and a roadmap to strengthen its long-term ERG strategy.
Through assessment, focus groups, and collaborative dialogue, the organization gained greater clarity around governance, executive sponsorship, leadership consistency, and cross-ERG collaboration—creating a stronger foundation for future decision-making.
Equally important, the engagement elevated ERG co-chairs as strategic organizational leaders. Rather than viewing their roles primarily through the lens of programming and event execution, the experience repositioned ERG co-chairs as strategic organizational leaders. Participants left with greater clarity around their influence as partners in advancing employee engagement, leadership development, and organizational culture.
By combining research, assessment, customized learning design, facilitation, and evaluation, Reimagine Talent established a sustainable roadmap for continued ERG growth while positioning the publishing giant to maximize the long-term impact of its employee communities.
