THE PHASEInfancy.
It's the work that happens before launch: vision, scope, governance, the handbook, the data plan, the leader training. It's invisible. It doesn't look like progress. And it's the difference between a program that grows and a program that gets stuck.
The Infancy phase ends at launch — whether the foundation was finished or not.
Every ERG program technically has an Infancy phase. The question is whether anyone treated it like one. Most programs were under pressure to launch quickly — post-2020, the expectation was "do something" before the foundation was ever ready. So Infancy got compressed into a few weeks, or skipped entirely, and the program went live anyway.
That's where Broken Adolescence comes from. Not from a bad team. Not from bad leaders. From a launch decision made before Infancy was actually complete.
Infancy is the only phase where building the foundation is the work. Every phase after this one assumes the foundation exists. If it doesn't, the program will keep looping back here — whether it wants to or not.
The 3Ps. The strategic framework that defines a launch-ready ERG program.
Purpose, Process, and Programming. Three areas of work that must be addressed at the program level — not the individual ERG level — before the program ever goes public.
Clarify the vision and create the strategy.
Purpose isn't a tagline. It's the answer to "who is this program actually for, and what does success look like?" The customer audience is employees. The stakeholders are the executive team. The program exists to deliver value to employees in a way that aligns with what the business cares about.
At the intersection of what executives want and what employees need is the program's North Star metric — retention, engagement, sense of belonging, internal brand affinity. That single metric keeps both priorities aligned and gives the program direction.
- Program vision — articulates executive success and employee impact in one frame.
- Scope definition — what's in scope and out of scope. Not a courtesy. A protective measure against legal risk.
- North Star metric — one measurable outcome that aligns the executive view and the employee view.
- Strategy — how the program will mature year over year. Pillars are not strategy. The ERG Movement Model is the strategy.
Build the structure to deliver consistent, high-quality value.
Purpose gives the program direction. Process makes it possible to deliver on that direction repeatedly — with clarity, quality, and consistency. The goal isn't bureaucracy. It's removing friction so ERG leaders can operate with as little as three hours a month once the system is in place.
Process at the program level is governance, the handbook, and the data infrastructure. Done right, leaders look at the structure and know exactly what's expected of them, how to execute, and when to act. You can't scale chaos. You can scale clarity.
- Governance — outcome-driven role design. Not "leads" and "co-leads." Task-based roles tied to specific program goals.
- Input and output metrics — clear actions expected from each role + the impact those actions are designed to drive.
- ERG handbook — the central tool for onboarding, decision-making, and execution. Workflows, visual examples, how-to guides. Built to retain leaders, not just inform them.
- Data infrastructure — how the program will measure what it just defined as success. Set up before launch, not bolted on after.
Equip ERG leaders to facilitate community.
Programming in Infancy is not about delivering events. That comes in Early Adolescence. Programming here is about teaching ERG leaders how to facilitate community — because identity does not equal facilitation skill. Most ERG leaders are not trained community facilitators, and without guidance, even the most passionate ones struggle to translate ideas into meaningful experiences.
This is where leaders define what topics matter to their community, what types of programming they want to deliver within the structure, and how to shape their ERG's unique voice — while staying aligned with the program's larger purpose and scope.
- Community facilitation training — the skill ERG leaders need but rarely have when they start.
- Customization within a framework — each ERG personalizes its approach without operating outside the program.
- Launch plan — the rollout strategy, launch event, and internal comms that introduce the program to employees and execs.
- First-event readiness — leaders walk into launch knowing how to design experiences around the communities they serve.
Four pressures that force programs out of Infancy too early.
Skipping Infancy isn't lazy. It's situational. Most programs that skipped it had real reasons — and those reasons keep happening to new programs every year.
The "do something" mandate.
Leadership wants visible action — usually within a quarter. Building infrastructure before launch isn't visible. So foundational work gets traded for a launch event, and the program goes live without ever being ready.
The "employee-led" myth applied to modern ERGs.
Companies confuse "employee-led" with "build it yourselves." Modern ERG programs — with budgets, sponsors, and program managers — need infrastructure to be employee-led, not employee-built. Without that, volunteer leaders end up designing the entire program in their spare time.
No framework for what "ready" actually means.
Most program managers have never been given a clear definition of what a launch-ready ERG program looks like. So "ready" becomes "we have ERGs identified and a launch date." That's not ready. That's announced.
Limited time and under-resourced teams.
Program managers are often handling ERGs on top of full DEI or HR roles. Foundation work takes weeks of focused time most don't have. So they shortcut it — knowing it's a shortcut, hoping it'll get fixed later. It rarely does.
Infancy doesn't end when the program is launched. It ends when the foundation is complete.
These are two different things. Most companies treat them as the same thing — and that's the single decision that determines whether the program develops or stalls.
A program that launches without finishing Infancy isn't ahead of schedule. It's compounding a problem on a timeline.
The tangible outputs of this phase.
Infancy isn't abstract. It's a list of things that should exist before launch — and that any program manager should be able to point to without hesitation.
A documented program vision
One paragraph that articulates executive success and employee impact in a way both audiences recognize.
Defined program scope
What's in scope, what's out of scope, and where the legal and operational boundaries are.
A North Star metric
One measurable outcome that aligns what executives want with what employees need.
Outcome-driven governance
Task-based roles, not titles. Each role tied to specific input and output metrics.
A complete ERG handbook
Workflows, examples, timelines, how-to guides. Built to onboard new leaders without the program manager doing it manually each time.
Data infrastructure
The systems and definitions for measuring success — set up before the first event runs.
Facilitation training
ERG leaders trained on how to actually build community — not just trained on what they identify with.
A program launch plan
Rollout strategy, launch event, internal comms. Built around the foundation, not in place of it.
A program manager who can lead
Someone equipped to manage the program from a strategic seat — not maintain it from a reactive one.
Two paths through Infancy — depending on where the program is right now.
Infancy work looks different for a program that hasn't launched yet versus a program that already did. Both paths exist. Both end in the same place: a program with a real foundation, ready to move into Early Adolescence.
Building a new program from scratch.
The program hasn't launched yet. There's still time to do Infancy properly — to define the vision, scope, governance, and handbook before going public. This is the cheaper path by every measure. The work is the same. The cost of doing it before launch is a fraction of the cost of fixing it after.
Start a new program the right way →Course-correcting a launched program that's stuck.
The program already launched. Membership exists. Leaders exist. Some version of operations exists — but it's clearly not working. The program needs to return to Infancy without starting over. That's exactly what the Fresh Start program is built to do: diagnose what's missing, rebuild the 3Ps, and reset the program for actual growth.
Explore the Fresh Start program →Infancy is the cheapest phase to do well. And the most expensive to skip.
The work doesn't disappear when it gets skipped. It just gets paid for later — in burnout, churn, and rebuilds. The Fresh Start program is how programs do this work without starting over.