Evolving ERGs to BRGs - a Path to High Business Impact

Copyright by Stephan Klaschka 2025

A Path to Evolution

When I was recently invited to speak at Seramount’s Global EmERGe event in London, UK, on the topic of evolving an ERG (Employee Resource Group) into a BRG (Business Resource Group) - it’s a hot topic! (Read this for a Terminology Primer: A Guide to Employee Groups from Affinity to Business.)

During my talk, I offered an outline of a roadmap, and received a lot of questions and valuable feedback from the highly engaged participants. So, if you are leading an ERG or want to build a BRG, I want to share the roadmap here with you, too. Note that this roadmap is not customized and remains generic, as each ERG and each organization is different. It takes more insight to map a path for a specific ERG or a group of ERGs within a specific organization - a multinational company, for example. (Contact me for a conversation and case studies on what the path for your ERG could look like.)

My Path to BRG: NxGen Case Study

As a matter of full disclosure, I did not start the Next Generation BRG (NxGen) at a global pharmaceutical company coming from an affinity angle. Six formal ERGs already existed, covering various diversity aspects with different levels of group maturity, and inclusion and engagement activity under the umbrella of the Diversity & Inclusion Office.

The NxGen BRG was set up differently from the beginning, and while it promoted the ‘next generation’ label, it was all-inclusive, open to all generations at the workplace, and thereby every employee wanting to join was welcome. It was the Millennials who embraced this opportunity most at the time: they were young, well educated, wanted to improve things, and, being at the beginning of their careers, were in no formal position of authority to bring about change.

At NxGen, we took a practical, business-focused, portfolio-oriented approach that proved very impactful for the company, successful for the BRG, and that became the blueprint for other ERGs to follow and evolve towards BRGs too.

How to Build a BRG

So, here are the six key aspects that outline the approach we took with the NxGen BRG and some advice on how to get started. Being a practitioner, I hope you will find this helpful for your purposes. Feel free to contact me for a deeper dive in case you have any questions or share your thoughts and ideas..

1. Strategy

Before you act, be very clear about purpose and intent and ready to communicate it. Develop a strategy as a starting point and a guiding star for your journey.

The starting point for NxGen was a business case that laid out why this new BRG was needed, why it was needed now, and how it would operate. The BRG will require an official mandate with cover and support from an organizational sponsor or function, such as a culture- or diversity-related office.

Get started by answering a few foundational questions, such as:

• Why is this BRG needed in your organization? Is it to support talent, innovation, market growth, or something else?

• What are its objectives, its goals? What measurable value will the BRG generate? Picture the results that the BRG will deliver and how you may approach quantifying them: In the end, you will need robust and convincing metrics for the BRG’s success.

Creating a BRG charter helps to clarify and communicate goals, values, and the mission to BRG members and attract future executive champions within the organization for active support, funding, and protection as needed by the BRG.

Once established, the NxGen Business Plan aligned BRG and company objectives to build a portfolio of cross-functional BRG projects with high business-impact potential, but that individual functions would not take on or just don’t consider themself responsible for.

Find more thoughts on how to start a BRG here: How to start building a business-focused ERG?)

2. People

First of all, a BRG needs a continuous inflow of members, the lifeblood of any BRG. So the question becomes, how do you attract and retain members? What intrinsic motivation can you tap into? Here are some ideas to consider:

• Affinity - Is there an underlying affinity network that aligns with the BRG or may have been the starting point for the BRG? How to keep it going in a BRG framework?

• Pressure to Change - Do BRG members feel a strong need to bring about change, or is there some pressure felt within the organization that warrants some form of change that could be harnessed?

• Personal Development - Can the BRG offer its members opportunities to: Build or improve skills? Gain experience beyond their immediate day job? Receive or supply mentoring opportunities? Provide some sort of ‘career springboard,’ such as giving members more visibility within the organization that may lead to career opportunities, recognition, awards, or promotion?

My approach is to awaken, release, and harness the intrapreneurial passion of BRG members while opening up opportunities, but also making members ambassadors for the BRG, if not active executors of BRG projects. (Here is more on motivators for BRG members: What’s in it for me? (WIIFM)

3. Process

Running a BRG requires building a forum for members to meet, connect, and celebrate rituals, as well as establishing some ground rules and procedures for BRG governance. Ownership for a project or initiative must come with accountability. Overall, it is important to create a safe space for members to engage and build trust.

Meetings should follow a predictable cadence and be transparent to the members. The forum is a place to discuss, strategize, decide, resolve conflicts, and track progress and success. It is also a place to have fun and celebrate the BRG’s successes and acknowledge the achievements of individual members.

At NxGen, for example, we used to explore how to attract and retain executive champions to support and sponsor our projects: after all, alignment with business interests is assured when the business is willing to pay for a project. (Read more on How to attract an executive sponsor? and Job description for an Executive Sponsor.)

Also, consider establishing a fair and transparent process on how to select leaders that is open to anyone, but also for replacing leaders to avoid their burnout over time.

4. Metrics

Solid metrics are a topic of great importance to demonstrate the BRG’s progress and success. While many things can be measured, however, it is important to identify the metrics that are meaningful and focus on metrics that are needed to make decisions, and not just to provide ‘information’ of sorts - less is more.

While the return on investment (ROI) is powerful, there can also be other aspects of high importance for the company, such as employee retention or attrition, for example. (There are some interesting correlations between these parameters and employee groups from some research we did at NxGen - let me know if you are interested in having a chat about this aspect.)
Here is more on How to approach 'metrics'?

5. Communication

“Do good and talk about it” captures the need to communicate about the BRG and its achievements. Make it easy for interested future members to find the BRG, get information about it, and engage with the BRG.

At NxGen, beyond having a presence in the internal company media, we entertained a chat channel to share our goals, projects, and success metrics, as well as celebrating our members and their achievements.

A crucial aspect of your communication is paying attention to the Innovation Killers: The Corporate Immune System Strikes Back! This includes to anticipate and proactively addressing potential areas of organizational resistance. Identifying pitfalls and working around resistance aims to build support for the BRG and to avoid unnecessary conflicts. It may include informing and engaging stakeholders throughout the organization while managing their expectations and addressing their concerns. This is a very tricky area that requires constant attention and recalibration - contact me if you would like to take a deeper dive.

6. Sustainability

Building and running a BRG is not a temporary or one-off endeavor; think of it as a marathon rather than a sprint. A BRG is an innovation ecosystem that self-sustains and keeps running perpetually. It requires enveloping and managing all aspects as laid out above to achieve sustainability.

For repeatable success, build a strong alliance with stakeholders and executive champions that may sponsor or support your BRG in other ways; this may include helping to navigate company politics, for example.

You will also need to cultivate a pipeline of fresh ideas to fuel future projects and initiatives of the BRG. It is not enough to produce new ideas. You also need to provide a safe space for BRG members to raise and discuss ideas, but also to present them to potential executive champions and sponsors in ways that protect the people presenting the ideas, as they may be exposed and vulnerable in ways that could impact their careers.

We used our experiences from the NxGen BRG to build an entire innovation ecosystem that opened up to employees across the entire company. The BRG was just a starting point on that journey, but this is another story, so contact me if you are interested in taking a deeper dive.

Summary

In contrast to a more affinity-rooted ERG, the BRG starts with developing a strategy that is rooted in employee needs and interests and aligns them with business needs in a complementary and holistic way by considering aspects including people, process, metrics, and communication to come to a sustainable and successful BRG.

What is your BRG experience? Please share your thoughts, and let’s have a conversation to learn from each other.

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