5 Reasons Why You Should Join Your Company's Employee Resource Groups

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Over the summer.

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I wrote a new keynote.

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All about the power of internal

networking and how the most productive,

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innovative, and engaged workers are.

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Those who build.

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Extremely broad, mutually beneficial

and uplifting relationships

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within their organization.

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Welcome to episode 1 66 of this shit

works a podcast dedicated to all

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things, networking, relationship

building and business development.

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I'm your host, Julie Brown.

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Speaker author and networking coach.

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And today I am discussing why

joining your company's ERG.

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This is one of the quickest ways

to build cross silo networks

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within your organization.

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So the keynote was about 45 minutes

long and it outlines why it is so

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important to not just retain employees,

but to create cultures of relationship

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building within our organizations.

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The reasons are vast and include

attracting new talent, retaining

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talent, avoiding burnout, and loneliness.

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In our employees.

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And creating more competitive

and profitable companies.

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In addition to laying out why we should

be encouraging internal networks and cross

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silo, communication and collaboration.

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I created a.

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Framework, you know, for opportunities

that companies can take advantage

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of to help create these connections.

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And one of them is to create

groups within our office around

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shared interests or identities.

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So employee resource groups.

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You know, companies benefit from

employee resource groups and a number of

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different ways, but I want to highlight

the five reasons why you should join

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an ERG and what you can get out of

getting involved in the ERG that are

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available to you at your company.

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Ready.

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Okay.

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One.

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Access to senior leadership.

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Most employee resource groups have

support from and direct communication

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with senior leaders within the company.

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And a number of senior leaders

will also be members of that ERG.

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And what better way to get to know a

number of leaders within your company

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and build relationships with them?

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Too.

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Networking, of course, that

was going to be one of them.

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When you join an ERG based off of

an interest or identity, you get to

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network with people from throughout

the company and across silos that you

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might never have had access to before.

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And, you know, you already have that

interest or identity in common as

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the foundation of your relationship.

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It's so important to get to know

and build relationships with as many

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people as possible in your company.

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And the employee resource groups

are a great way to do that.

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Oh

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three.

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Professional development.

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Most employee resource groups

have a budget for training

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or professional development.

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I've spoken to a number of

local national and international

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and believe resource groups.

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And those people within those

groups are sometimes the only

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people within the company that get

access to my networking workshop.

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Because that specific ERG has the

budget to bring in outside speakers.

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For.

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Uh, education and allyship.

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By joining ERG that aren't

part of your specific identity.

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You will become more educated in regards

to other interests and identities, and

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you can also become a stronger ally and

advocate for others within your company.

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This is important for everyone.

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And five finally community.

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ERG is we'll give you a safe

space for relationship building.

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To ask questions to help with

navigating office politics and

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also with professional and career

development, they really are a win-win.

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So this was just five of the top reasons

why you should be joining an employee

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resource group within your company.

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There are so, so many more.

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And I got to tell you over the years,

I've thoroughly enjoyed the work I've done

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with various employee resource groups.

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You know, women's employee resource,

groups, young professionals, employee

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resource groups, specifically.

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I've had a front row seat to the kind

of relationships and professional

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development these groups can offer.

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And so I encourage you to join one in your

firm and if your firm doesn't have any.

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Then talk with leadership

about how you might be able to

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create them within the office.

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Really, I mean, it's a win-win

for you and for the company.

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Okay.

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Onto the drink of the week,

which I'm so excited about.

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It is the smokey mez, Cal fig sour,

which I'm going to be upfront with you.

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It takes a little bit of prep

work, but it's totally worth it.

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Because this recipe is for our crowd.

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So whip it up for any day of the dead

or how wean parties you have coming up.

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Okay.

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And parts of it can be made in advance.

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Here's what you're going to need.

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One and a third cups of simple syrup.

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We've talked about how to

make this on the show before.

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10 dried figs, halved.

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One four inch piece of ginger

peeled and thinly sliced.

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One whole bottle of mezcal, one in a

quarter cups, fresh lemon juice from

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like about eight large lemons, three

fourths cup water, and a whole nutmeg.

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You know what?

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You don't need a whole number.

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Like you just need graded number.

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I don't know why they

put a hold on the mic.

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So this is step one.

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Ready?

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We're going to make a ginger

ginger fig simple syrup.

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What you're going to do is you're

gonna take the simple syrup.

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The figs and the ginger and a small

soft payout pan and bring to a boil

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over medium and then reduced to low.

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And simmer until the figs are softened,

which will take about five minutes.

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Then remove that from the heat

and let it cool for 30 minutes.

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And then after it cools,

refrigerate it refrigerator it for

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eight hours or up to overnight.

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And then we're going to strain it.

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We're going to pour that through a mesh.

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So we get the, you know, the

ginger and the, the figs out of

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it, that the solids out of it.

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And then we have our ginger fig.

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Syrup.

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So we're going to store

that in a container.

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You can store it up for a week, so you

see, you can prep this ahead of time.

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And I am totally thinking

about bringing this to that the

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neighborhood Halloween party.

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So anyways, you can make that ginger

syrup up to a week in advance.

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Now, when you want to make the

big picture of cocktail, this

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is what you're going to do.

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You're going to pour that whole

bottle of mescal into a pitcher.

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Pour one and a quarter cups

of the fig ginger syrup.

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You might have to put it through.

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Um, Uh, mash again to get any

of the remaining pieces out.

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But if you don't, you don't, it's fine.

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Then add the lemon juice and

the water and then refrigerator.

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Refrigerate it until it's chilled, which

will probably take about two hours.

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Um, or again, you want to make it a

day before refrigerated overnight.

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And then when you're ready to serve,

pour it over in a rocks glass, but

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over one of those big ice cubes.

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And so specifically for this, oh my God.

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I'm so excited.

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Specifically for this cocktail for the

Halloween party, I bought ice cube molds,

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like big ice cube molds that are skulls.

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Um, I found them at, at home

goods at TJ Maxx Marshall's home

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goods, whatever it was anyway.

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So there might still be some there,

but I'm so excited to have skulls.

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Yeah.

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As the ice for this anyways.

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Um, I'm going off anyways.

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Okay.

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And then, you know, they say

as a garnish to just put some,

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they say freshly grated, nutmeg.

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Just sprinkle some nutmeg over it.

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Okay.

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Oh, my God.

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I'm so excited about these.

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, ice cubes.

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All right friends.

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That's all for this week.

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If you like what you heard

today, please leave a review

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and subscribe to the podcast.

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Also, please remember to share the podcast

to have it reach a larger audience.

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If you want more, Julie

Brown, you can find my book.

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This shit works on Amazon

or Barnes and noble.

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You can find me on

LinkedIn at Julie Brown BD.

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Just let me know where you found me.

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When you reach out, I am Julie Brown

underscore BD on the Instagram, or you

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just, you can pop on over to my website,

Julie Brown, bd.com until next week.

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Cheers.

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Go get yourself those ice cubes.

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Hey, thanks for taking the time to listen.

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Be sure to subscribe to the

podcast so you never miss a tip.

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And remember, you can unapologetically

be who you authentically are

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and still be wildly successful.

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That's a fact.

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See you next week on This Shit Works.

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Okay.