From Community to Strategic Impact: Developing ERG Leaders at a Global Publishing Company
Background
Employee Resource Groups have evolved into strategic drivers of employee engagement, leadership development, belonging, and organizational culture. McKinsey & Company found that 83% of employees who perceive their ERGs as effective report feeling included at work, compared with 59% of employees who view their ERGs as ineffective.
As ERGs assume greater responsibility, their leaders must balance strategic priorities, governance, stakeholder relationships, and volunteer sustainability alongside their full-time roles.
To strengthen the long-term impact of its employee communities, a global publishing company partnered with Reimagine Talent to assess its ERG ecosystem and deliver a customized leadership development experience grounded in the voices of its ERG 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 Business Need
The organization recognized an opportunity to better understand the health of its ERG ecosystem while strengthening the leadership capabilities of its ERG co-chairs.
Discovery revealed opportunities to improve operational consistency, governance, executive sponsorship, stakeholder engagement, cross-ERG collaboration, knowledge sharing, and measures of long-term success.
Rather than beginning with a standard leadership workshop, the organization needed an assessment-informed experience that reflected the specific needs of its ERG community.
Our Solution
Reimagine Talent designed and delivered a comprehensive ERG Leadership Health Scan and customized leadership summit through the following multi-step process:
An ERG leader survey to assess current experiences, challenges, and development needs
Facilitated focus groups to gather deeper qualitative insights
Stakeholder conversations and organizational discovery
Analysis and synthesis of recurring themes and strategic opportunities
A customized leadership summit grounded in participant feedback
Interactive activities focused on stakeholder relationships, governance, leadership identity, collaboration, and organizational influence
Practical tools including Stakeholder Mapping, the Four Ps Framework, and Start–Stop–Continue reflection
A post-engagement evaluation to measure participant experience and identify future opportunities
Our Results
The engagement strengthened individual leadership capabilities while providing the organization with actionable insights to guide the continued development of its ERG strategy.
Five ERGs
were represented throughout the engagement
4.88/5
Average Facilitator Rating
4.13/5
Overall Training Value
10/10
Client Net Promoter Score
ERG leaders gained practical strategies to strengthen stakeholder partnerships, improve cross-ERG collaboration, and approach their roles more strategically
The organization gained greater clarity around governance, executive sponsorship, leadership consistency, and long-term ERG sustainability
“Working with Reimagine Talent was truly a dream partnership from day one!”
“Our community is beyond fortunate to have made this connection with Reimagine Talent. I’m looking forward to our continued working relationship and will continue to recommend them far and wide.”
“The level of professionalism, collaborative spirit, and commitment to the work far exceeded my expectations.”
“There was not one moment during our work together where I didn’t feel supported, heard, and valued.”
