In January and February 2020 we had the opportunity to partner again with one of our clients in the tech industry to design and deliver a two-day leadership intensive program for their Employee Resource Group (ERG) leaders – AKA the individuals who serve as Diversity Champions for various underrepresented minority groups within the organization.
These individuals serve their roles as ERG leaders and Diversity Champions with passion, and spend a great deal of time and effort developing their groups despite it not being a part of their “day jobs”. Our goal with these individuals was to meet them at this intersection of their passion for diversity and inclusion and career advancement. Together with the participants, we focused on the following objectives:
Define participant’s career plans with clear objectives and strategies.
Understand personal strengths and communication styles in order to lead by example and authentically present the value participants add to their teams and networks.
Identify key needs from professional networks, mentors, and sponsors, and design a plan to create a reliable network.
Develop tools to advocate and sponsor others as a key component of leadership development.
Develop relationships among cohort members to serve as advocates and accountability partners after the session has ended.
It was a true pleasure to work with the individuals, and to see them bond with one another through their passion, challenges, and shared understanding of both. We look forward to continuing this work.