Advice for Building a BRG Membership Mindset
Copyright by Stephan Klaschka 2010-2025
Elements of a BRG Membership Mindset
From my work as a founder and leader of two successful Business Resource Groups (BRGs) in a large, global enterprise, I learned that building a trusting mindset for BRG members is a key success criterion. (See also Part 3 of 3: Starting a BRG as a strategic innovation engine! for some background and motivation.)
What makes up a membership mindset, and how can you build it as a BRG leader?
While in these BRGs, we planned and built out the structures and our culture as a team, I became aware only afterward that we intuitively aligned well with a great book that I came along much later and that I can highly recommend to anyone who wants to lead: Patrick Lencioni’s “5 Dysfunctions of a Team”. Borrowing the author’s terminology and approach for our purpose at hand, here are the five key elements to build a mindset for a high-performing BRG:
1. Trust
First and foremost, members of any BRG (as well as an Affinity Group or another kind of Employee Network Group) need a safe space to meet, share, and respectfully discuss with other members. Feeling secure and comfortable to open up and share your inner thoughts with others requires not only courage but even more so trust as a prerequisite!
Our BRGs established ground rules, an etiquette, or a code for social hygiene, if you like, to set clear expectations for the behavior expected of all members. Besides leveling the playing field, granting equal opportunities to all members, we also disregarded job title or formal organizational authority that a member may hold outside the BRG. All members were held to always communicate and behave respectfully and constructively towards other members.
This provided a haven and refuge for many outside the busy business of their day job, where they could flourish in new ways.
2. Constructive Conflict
Meaningful change comes with conflict. If there is no conflict and everyone agrees easily, then the change is obvious and not truly meaningful. Meaningful change and the conflict that comes with it require discussion to address and to clarify, and to resolve and align positions, opinions, and derived plans of action.
Arguments can get heated and out of hand, so it remains of great importance to maintain collaboration and keep critique constructive. Collegiate harmony should be paramount. Agreeing to disagree can be a viable outcome to a highly controversial topic. Focus on building a highly effective team where its members support each other and challenge ideas just to make them better, but not attack or undercut each other - the results will be rewarding for all members and the BRG overall.
3. Commitment
Getting a ‘yes’ from someone to do something is one thing, but getting their commitment can be a very different and much more valuable thing. Commitment is one of three parts, with Ownership and Accountability completing the trio. Let’s look at commitment first:
Commitment requires an investment by the agreeing party that should not be made lightly or taken for granted. When you commit, in general, you should expect to be held accountable for your actions or inactions as well as to claim the accomplishments and honors coming with the outcomes.
As a word of advice to the BRG leadership: make it easy for members to commit by avoiding establishing standing committees tasked with repeatedly organizing events of sorts for a prolonged time, for example, as this can quickly drain energy and fuel burnout. Instead, allow volunteers to sign up to organize one event at a time, in this example, like stepping in and out of the obligation once the task has been completed. This way, motivation and energy stay high, and the team remains committed to delivering quality results.
4. Ownership
It is important that BRG members (including leaders) are serious about their participation in the BRG and truly take ownership of their chosen or assigned tasks. Otherwise, they are the wrong person in a position that is meant to drive the BRG and its objectives forward.
Ownership goes hand in hand with deep commitment and the feeling of responsibility for a task and to bring this task to completion in the best possible way. Members who do not assume this same sense of ownership are not a good fit and should swiftly be replaced.
5. Accountability
There are people who volunteer easily to take charge but then struggle to get started or show perseverance and tenacity, or -perhaps- skills and experience to deliver on their commitment. It is important for the BRG, however, to hold members accountable for their actions and inactions; not to be malignant but to ensure the BRG’s committed goals are being pursued and achieved.
If a member falls behind on their commitment, it is only fair to track progress and raise concerns when there are gaps opening. Tracking progress periodically and correcting the course as needed is very basic good project management practice. So, if a member bit off a bite too large for them to swallow, the team can offer help as needed to support the member in their effort. Help can come in many forms and include resources, mentoring, skill-building, hands-on support, and so forth.
Conclusion
In summary, building a respectful culture of support, accountability, and offering opportunities for personal growth and development within the BRG is the most rewarding path for its members and the growth and impact of the BRG overall. Cultivating this mindset retains existing members and attracts new ones alike. It builds trust and confidence in the BRG as an organization that is taken seriously within the host company and is valued and continuously supported by leadership and executives.