Expert Interview: Charlene Brown on Why ERGs Are Becoming the Culture Operating System of Modern Organisations
In this exclusive spotlight interview, we speak with Charlene Brown, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Howlett Brown and partner host of the ERG Blueprint Conference.
As organisations grapple with shifting employee expectations, heightened people risk, and increasing cultural complexity, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are no longer operating at the margins. At their best, they are becoming insight engines, early warning systems and accelerators of change.
Few people understand this evolution of culture change, people risk and ERGs as deeply as Charlene Brown, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Howlett Brown.
In this interview, Charlene reflects on the changing role of ERGs, the leadership skills required to sustain them, and why cross-industry collaboration is now critical for the future of work.
How does Howlett Brown’s journey, as a people intelligence organisation, connect to the evolution of ERGs and cultural change in organisations?
Our story has always been rooted in one belief - to help organisations create environments where integrity, inclusion, innovation and purpose thrive and people risk is low. In a workplace without external support, components of this work are undertaken by HR, DEIB and Culture teams, bolstered by the activities of ERGs.
ERGs started (in many organisations) as community and support networks but as expectations on businesses grew and as employees became clearer about what they will and won’t tolerate, ERGs have become early warning systems, insight engines and change accelerators.
That’s why we increasingly advise and support ERGs in strategy, policy reviews, inclusive leadership work, training and coaching, and equitable talent frameworks, because ERGs aren’t an extra; they’re part of a modern culture operating system.
The cultural climate has changed. The expectations of employers have changed. The conflicts we see in workplaces has changed. The skill set required to truly address change has also changed. Therefore, Howlett Brown with its unique and combined skill sets has always been primed to support organisations in intelligent, nuanced and change centric ways in designing their workplaces to be innovative, inclusive, attractive to talent and keeping people risk low.
As a people intelligence company, Howlett Brown works with companies to drive and support them to navigate sustainable cultural change. The people intelligence piece is crucial to cultural change. It’s about making accurate, tangible and real-world assessments on where a company is on their culture journey, understanding the emotional needs and motivations of people whilst still supporting sustainable business practices. Similarly, ERGs should ensure they also have the objective of driving employee led cultural change through a strategic and integral approach.
ERGs are often described as engines of belonging and change. Where are ERGs succeeding and where are the biggest gaps?
I see ERGs succeeding most when they are doing two things at once: building belonging and building evidence. The strongest ERGs are not only creating community, but they’re also gathering lived experience into patterns that leaders can act on as well as linking those insights to the employment lifecycle, such as recruitment, progression, wellbeing, retention, and reputation.
The biggest gaps are still familiar – ERGs being treated as passion projects rather than strategic partners; inconsistent executive sponsorship; and impact being expected without data, time, or budget.
The second familiar gap is also from ERG leaders themselves, not treating an ERG as a business within a business from day one, ensuring strategic components are positioned and designed, and stakeholder management practices in place, to complement and support the overall organisation strategy.
If we want ERGs to be engines of change, we must stop running them on passion, side-interests and limited structure and strategy.
In the past year, the ERGs that were most effective proved their value by moving beyond community-building and networking to create real organisational change. They created their own seat at the table by being strategic, recognising the broader organisational needs and demonstrating impact on an organisational-wide scale. These ERGs influenced policy, challenged established norms, and delivered measurable improvements in inclusion and workplace culture.
However, this progress is fragile. Many ERGs are still constrained by weak or symbolic executive sponsorship, limited accountability, and a lack of clear success measures. As budgets tighten and DE&I loses priority in some leadership agendas, the gap between expectation and support has widened – making it harder for ERGs to sustain momentum or deliver impact without stronger sponsorship, resources, and strategic alignment.
What leadership skills do ERG volunteers need more of, and how can organisations enable this development?
ERG volunteers need to be entrepreneurial and have real-world leadership and influencing skills such as:
- stakeholder management and negotiation - ability to professionally challenge and champion
- strategic planning - moving from events to outcomes
- data storytelling - turning insight into action leaders can resource
- facilitation and conflict navigation - psychological safety + brave dialogue
- greater commercial awareness and understanding both internal to the organisation and external environments that may impact internal decision making
Organisations can enable this by treating ERG leadership as leadership development: protected time, access to training, mentoring and visibility. We already do this for other leadership pipelines – ERG leadership should count too.
What frameworks or practices help strengthen ERG leadership sustainability?
What helps is structure, strategy and the detailed operationalising of both, such as:
- a clear charter: purpose, scope, decision rights, and success measures,
- resourcing agreements: time allocation, budget, and admin support,
- a strategy with operational planning: how they will achieve their objectives and how the work resourced and completed within a certain timeframe, who are the stakeholders and how is communication, decision making and sign off handled,
- role clarity and rotation: terms of office, deputies, development, retention and succession planning,
- a wellbeing-by-design approach: check-ins, realistic cadence, permission to pause.
What do you hope happens when cross-industry ERG voices are put in the same room?
I hope we shift from isolation to coalition. I hope we turbo-charge the shift from nice-to-haves and passion projects to strategic partners and contenders that have the power to influence revenue or organisation purpose and brand.
When ERG leaders come together across industries, three powerful things happen:
- people realise they’re not alone – and that unlocks confidence
- people realise they’ve either been playing small or not operating in the right framework, so they adjust, and the benefits are seen quickly
- we start sharing what actually works, not just what sounds good
We want to create a community for ERG and HR professionals to gain the knowledge and confidence, to be bold, practical, and collaborative – a space where ERGs leave with tools, networks, and momentum, not just inspiration.
Ajay and I, founders of iCAN and Howlett Brown respectively, are former ERG leaders that had great success with the ERGs we lead, followed by our roles as ERG advisors at TNON, and now as ERG strategists with this conference. By bringing people together, we want to ramp up the sophistication and strategic output and impact of ERGs.
This work is so important to us. Being ERG leaders gave us our foundation as leaders, to now the platforms we have as founders. We want to share all we have learned and achieved to everyone who attends to support their success and growth, and a positive impact on the organisations they are a part of.
How can organisations harness ERG influence more effectively?
Treat ERGs like insight partners. Build formal channels where ERG insight feeds into:
- organisational and commercial strategy
- policy and process design (recruitment, performance, grievance, flexibility)
- product and customer understanding (where relevant)
- risk sensing - themes from lived experience that show up before they hit headlines
- brand ambassadors, marketing and brand management
Then close the loop: communicate what changed, what didn’t, and why. Influence without feedback becomes frustration.
What influence do executive sponsors have, and how can that relationship improve?
Executive sponsors can either unlock an ERG or unintentionally limit it. The best sponsors don’t “own” the ERG; they amplify it.
They open doors, protect time, remove barriers, and translate ERG priorities into leadership language. They can support the profile of the ERGs and the chairs occupying a seat at the table, as well as supporting their skills development in business strategy and how that connects to the ERG.
The relationship improves when expectations are explicit: what sponsorship means in hours, actions, advocacy and accountability - not just a name on a slide.
As the future of work continues to change, how do you see the role of ERGs evolving?
ERGs will become even more central as work becomes more hybrid, more global, and more polarised.
The winning qualities will be:
- strategic partnerships for executives in driving business and organisational ambitions and agendas
- curiosity and evidence-led strategy - not just activity or passion-led advocacy
- cross-network collaboration - intersectionality in practice
- courage with care - naming truth while keeping people safe
- systems thinking - how culture shows up in policies, incentives, and everyday decisions
ERGs that can connect human experience to business reality will shape the next era of workplace culture.
One challenge or thought to reflect on?
Ask yourself: “what am I willing to stop doing so I can do what matters most in my role in the ERG?”
Not everything is urgent. Not every request is an ERG leader’s or even an executive sponsor to carry.
Impact comes from focus and alignment with organisational strategy, and focus is an act of leadership.
Where can leaders and organisations start today if they want to strengthen their ERGs?
Start with four moves:
- Walk in the shoes of the leaders: if an ERG leader put themselves in the shoes of the CEO, what do you think their challenges would be? How would they navigate competing priorities and how would they affect change whilst staying relevant in their respective markets and becoming or maintaining being an employer of choice?
- Listen properly: understand what your ERGs are seeing and feeling on the ground and what is driving this internally and externally.
- Resource responsibly: spell out every step and required time, budget, access, and sponsorship needed.
- Link to strategy: define outcomes and connect ERG work to the culture and talent priorities of the organisation.
If you do those four well, ERGs stop being an add-on. They become part of how your organisation learns, protects its integrity, and grows.
Shaping the Future of ERGs
In this interview, Charlene Brown, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Howlett Brown, makes one thing clear: ERGs are no longer optional, informal networks operating on goodwill. They are fast becoming one of the most powerful levers organisations have to understand people risk, build trust, and drive sustainable cultural change.
Charlene reframes ERGs as early warning systems and change accelerators; groups uniquely positioned to translate lived experience into intelligence that leaders can act on. But she is equally candid about the challenges holding many ERGs back: under-resourcing, lack of strategic alignment, inconsistent executive sponsorship, and an over-reliance on passion rather than structure.
Charlene argues that ERG leaders must be developed and supported like any other leadership pipeline, while organisations must treat ERGs as strategic partners, not side projects.
This interview highlights the power of cross-industry collaboration. When ERG leaders come together, isolation gives way to confidence, best practice replaces guesswork, and influence grows. This is the purpose at the heart of the ERG Blueprint Conference: a space designed not just to inspire, but to equip ERG leaders with the frameworks, tools, and networks needed to create real, measurable impact.
Be in the Room Where the Future of ERGs Is Being Shaped
The ERG landscape is changing fast. Expectations are higher, scrutiny is sharper, and the margin for impact without strategy is shrinking.
If you lead, sponsor, support, or influence ERGs, this is not a conversation you can afford to observe from the sidelines.
Join us at the ERG Blueprint Conference this April where the people shaping the next chapter of ERGs will be sharing what works, challenging outdated models, and raising the bar for impact.
Get in the room with ERG leaders, executive sponsors, culture strategists, and practitioners who are serious about moving ERGs from passion projects to strategic powerhouses.