ERG Q&A | ERG Leader Buy-In After the Last ERG Program Manager(s) Failed
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How to earn trust from ERG leaders who have watched program managers come and go without anything changing.
Walking into a program where leaders have been burned by previous program managers is one of the hardest starts in this work. Leaders are not skeptical of you — they are skeptical of the role.
Do not start with vision
The instinct is to come in with a new strategy. Resist it. Leaders have heard new strategies before. They want to see whether you actually show up.
Start with acknowledgment
Name what happened. "I know the last few program managers did not see things through. I am not asking you to trust me yet — I am asking for 30 days to show you something different."
Ship one small win
One thing leaders have been asking for and not getting. Could be a documented process, an executive intro, a small budget unlock. Deliver it. Then deliver the next one.
Then ask for buy-in
Once leaders have seen 2–3 cycles of follow-through, then bring the bigger ask.