Mystery Minds Solutions for ERGs

What are ERGs?  

Employee Resource Groups are a popular tactic for many large organizations. They are a great way to bring together employees with specific demographic factors in common, giving them the opportunity to organize, offer each other all kinds of support, and celebrate their commonalities.  

The most common kinds of ERG include Women’s networks, LGBTQ+ networks, Black Employee networks, networks for specific faiths, cultures, and ethnicities, networks for parents, and groups for disabled or neurodiverse employees.  

For a full definition of ERGs and how to successfully create an ERG program, you can check out our ERG 101 article.  

 

And what is Mystery Minds?  

Mystery Minds solutions all operate on one core belief: that the human factor is the most important part of any organization’s success. In addition to that, we believe that the more connections an employee or a leader has in their network, the more successful, efficient, and happy they’ll be at work.  

To increase the number of connections, our solutions all offer customizable match-making options. Users sign up, answer a few questions, and then are regularly matched with new contacts based on the answers they submitted.   

How often they get matched, how long each meeting is, and the matching criteria are all defined by the organization when the new community is set up. That means that each ERG can decide for themselves how they want their system to work.  

Using Mystery Minds to bring your ERGs to the next level  

So, you know what ERGs are, and now you know the basics about Mystery Minds solutions.   

But how can you bring the two elements together in the way that makes the most sense for your situation? Here are a few options:   

Networking within ERGs  

First and foremost, you can use Mystery Minds solutions to create communities where ERG members can meet each other. You can then offer this as an additional resource to your ERGs, or even less formal collectives of employees.  

The matchmaking solution can be configured so that members are matched with people from different locations, regions, or departments. This can help prevent silos from developing within large ERGs and can help employees to connect with people they otherwise might never have met – even with ERG membership in common.  

For some Employee Networks, it might be important that their community is invite-only. With private communities, you can ensure that only the relevant people have access to the networking solution. Meanwhile, for ERGs that want to recruit from the entire pool of employees, they can choose to be open communities which everyone can join.  

Finally, you can adjust the type of meeting you’re suggesting to your group’s members. We already have two pre-made versions, Mystery Coffee and Mystery Lunch, which are perfect for either short virtual meetings or slightly longer in-person meetings. But if you have something more individual in mind, then we can help you to build it.  

 

Networking between ERGs 

In addition to networking within an ERG, you can also use Mystery Minds to connect employees between different groups. Here are two ways to benefit from this option:  

ERG Leadership networking  
Most leaders of Employee Resource Groups don’t have any specialist training. They are volunteers whose day jobs may not require any of the skills that an ERG leader needs. By connecting these leaders with one another for monthly networking, you can help them to exchange their knowledge and experiences, offering an informal mentoring solution.  

Additionally, they may be able to identify ways that their different groups can work together or support one another. Whether it’s to run an event or to support each other’s motions at the DEI Council, connecting ERG leaders promotes collaboration and intersectionality as well as knowledge exchange.  

ERG Member networking  
If your ERGs are themselves creating silos within an organization, then encouraging networking between different groups is a great way to loosen things up a bit. Via random matching, employees can get in touch with their peers who might have very different life experiences. Once again, this can encourage intersectionality and allyship between different groups, in addition to helping employees meet colleagues from different regions or departments.  

 

Contact between ERG members and senior leadership 

This final option is a great way to reward Employee Resource Group leaders for their hard work, helping them to develop their careers and gain important networking skills.  

In this Mystery Minds solution, ERG leaders can be matched with senior leaders from the organization as a whole. This can be a great time to exchange their ideas and concerns, or it can be a way to meet a potential mentor. And, for the C-Suite, it’s a great opportunity to listen to their employees and learn more about their day-to-day experiences in the company.  

Naturally, this option does require buy-in from C-Suite and other senior leaders, but if run only once a quarter, then it can be a low-maintenance way to make ERGs feel heard and valued.  

  

Get started with Mystery Minds for ERGs today!  

There are dozens of ways that you can customize a Mystery Minds solution to fit your Employee Resource Group’s needs. Whether your employees are scattered across different regions or all working in the same office, and whether you want to match within ERGs or between different groups, we can help you to build the solution that works best for you.  

All you need is a little creativity and the support of one of our in-house experts.  

If this article piqued your interest, or if you already have an idea for an ERG community you’d like to test, then get in touch with us today!