ERG Consulting
For the people doing the most important work in the building, often with the least support.
Employee Resource Groups are one of the most underestimated assets in any organization. When they work well, they're not just affinity spaces; they're engines for retention, culture change, and inclusion in practice. They surface problems before they become crises. They build community across silos. And they give people a reason to stay.
But most ERGs are held together by a handful of deeply committed volunteers who are already doing a full-time job. They're running on energy and values, without much structure underneath. And when the founding members burn out, move on, or get promoted, the whole thing can quietly collapse.
That's where this work comes in.
What ERG consulting actually looks like:
This isn't facilitation or a workshop on how to run a meeting. It's a strategic partnership: working alongside ERG leadership and the HR or DEI staff who support them to build something that can actually last.
Some engagements start with a listening and analysis process. Before recommending anything, we observe existing programs, conduct stakeholder interviews, and facilitate a structured conversation with ERG leadership to understand what's actually happening inside the organization, not just what's on paper. That process results in a written recommendations report: a prioritized roadmap grounded in what's already working, what's missing, and what's realistically possible given the organization's current stage of development.
Other engagements skip the assessment and go straight to the work, because the gaps are already clear. Those might focus on governance and structure, clarifying how decisions get made, how leadership transitions happen, and how the ERG relates to organizational leadership. Or on programming strategy, designing a calendar that serves a real theory of change rather than just filling time. Or on attendance and engagement, diagnosing why people aren't showing up and building something worth showing up for.
The starting point is always the same: understanding where you are, not where you think you should be.
Who this is for:
This work is a fit if your ERG has been running for a while but feels stuck. If you're inheriting leadership from a founding generation and need to figure out what comes next. If you have executive support in theory but aren't sure how to translate that into resources, visibility, or real organizational change. If you keep getting asked to prove your value and aren't sure how to answer that question.
It's also a fit if you're an HR or DEI leader who is responsible for supporting multiple ERGs and needs a thought partner to help you build a coherent structure across all of them, not just put out individual fires.
What you'll come away with:
That depends on what you need! Some engagements end with a governance document and a 12-month programming calendar. Some end with a clearer theory of change and a leadership transition plan. Some are ongoing, with quarterly check-ins as the ERG evolves. Trystan will work with you at the start to define what a successful engagement looks like, and hold that as the north star.
