THE PHASE OFGrowing Up.
Mid Adolescence is at least two years long. Often longer. It's where the program stops being new and starts getting great. The work isn't building anymore. It's not even testing. It's the slow, repeatable, deeply unsexy practice of becoming a community people actually want to belong to.
This is the phase where most of the work of an ERG program happens.
The program is no longer new. The structure is set. The ERGs are active. Leaders aren't figuring out how to operate anymore — they're working on doing it well, and doing it consistently. This is where the actual job changes.
In earlier phases, the job was building and testing. In Mid Adolescence, the job is getting great at the work of community itself. A wide variety of programming that reflects the full spectrum of member interests. Regular rhythm and repetition in planning and execution. Events, initiatives, and comms that members actually care about. Clear ties between ERG activity and the program's North Star metric.
Leaders still use the tools, training, and processes introduced in Infancy and reinforced in Early Adolescence — but now with more confidence, and a higher bar.
The whole phase is built around one question: can you create a community that consistently meets the needs of your members — and keeps them coming back?
Mid Adolescence is when community-building becomes a practiced skill — not an instinct.
There's a difference between hosting events and building community. Most ERG leaders enter this phase doing the first. The work of Mid Adolescence is making sure they leave doing the second.
Programming variety, not just volume.
Members aren't a monolith. A program at this stage should be running programming that reflects the full spectrum of member interests — not the same three event types on rotation. Variety is what keeps a community feeling like a community, instead of a series of optional meetings.
Rhythm and repetition.
The same planning process. The same cadence. The same operational rhythm — month after month, quarter after quarter. The point isn't to be exciting. The point is to be reliable. Members start showing up consistently when they know what to expect from a program.
Events members actually care about.
Programming gets pressure-tested in real time. What resonates, what doesn't, what shows up in the feedback. ERG leaders learn to read the room — and the data — and design experiences that members want to attend, not feel obligated to.
Activity tied to the North Star metric.
Every event, initiative, and comm should connect to the program's North Star metric — usually engagement, though not always. If activity isn't moving the metric, it's not contributing to the program — it's just keeping people busy.
In Mid Adolescence, the program is no longer just active. It's accountable for resonance.
Activity proves the program exists. Resonance proves it matters. This is the phase where the difference becomes measurable — and where the bar quietly gets higher whether anyone announces it or not.
Mid Adolescence is where the PM's job becomes institutional memory.
The PM isn't building anymore. Isn't reinforcing anymore. The work shifts to tracking, iterating, and documenting — quietly, consistently, behind the scenes — so that what's working now can keep working when the people doing it change.
Track engagement consistently.
Not just attendance. Member activity, content performance, communications response, depth of participation. If engagement isn't being tracked, the program is operating on vibes — and vibes don't survive a budget review.
Iterate on what's working and slowing things down.
This is the phase of refinement, not redesign. Processes that worked in Early Adolescence may need adjustment as volume grows. Templates that worked for one ERG may need to flex for five. Small, ongoing changes — not full overhauls.
Build a Programming Bank.
A centralized space that captures every event, initiative, and communication that's been executed — with key details, outcomes, and what worked or didn't. This is one of the most important assets the PM will ever build. It becomes the foundation for succession, consistency, and scale.
Capture best practices as they emerge.
When something works, document why. When a leader figures out a better way, capture it. Make it easy for current and future leaders to reference. Institutional memory is what allows a program to keep its quality when the original team eventually rotates out.
Mid Adolescence is when the program starts measuring engagement, not attendance.
Three engagement scores illuminate what's actually working in a Mid Adolescence program. If the North Star metric is well-aligned, these three should reflect movement in the right direction over time.
Member Engagement Score
Are members participating beyond just showing up? Are they returning? Are they connecting with each other between events?
Event Engagement Score
Not just attendance. Depth of participation. Did members engage with the content? Did the event resonate? Did anyone leave changed?
Communications Engagement Score
Is the program's voice landing? Are members opening, reading, responding, sharing? Comms is the connective tissue — measure it.
Three ways programs try to skip this phase — and pay for it.
Mid Adolescence is long, slow, and unflashy. That makes it the phase most companies are tempted to shortcut. None of these shortcuts work.
Rebranding ERGs as "BRGs".
The Business Resource Group rebrand is the most common attempt to skip Mid Adolescence. Changing the name doesn't change the reality. If engagement isn't improving, and ERG leaders are still overloaded, what's been built hasn't matured — it's just been renamed. The work is still on the table.
Adding new layers of executive oversight.
Standing up new committees, advisory boards, or formal sponsorship structures looks like maturity. It often isn't. Oversight doesn't replace the skill of community-building. If the foundational community work isn't happening, more structure just creates more meetings about why it isn't.
Treating one successful initiative as readiness for the next phase.
One great event doesn't mean the program is ready to scale. Real growth is measured by what can be repeated, scaled, and sustained — not what went well once. Mid Adolescence is about consistency at a high bar, not occasional peaks.
Mid Adolescence working vs. Mid Adolescence stuck.
Most programs that plateau plateau here. The good news: the difference between working and stuck is observable. It's not about how the program feels — it's about what's actually happening month after month.
The program is working:
- Engagement scores are trending up across members, events, and comms.
- Programming variety is increasing — different formats, different topics, different ways to engage.
- The Programming Bank is being used, not just maintained. Leaders reference it; it informs future decisions.
- Best practices are being captured as they emerge — not lost when a leader rotates out.
- Members talk about the ERGs unprompted — in slack, in surveys, in casual conversation.
- Leaders are coaching each other using shared language from the framework.
The program is stuck:
- Engagement looks the same as it did 12 months ago — or no one knows because it isn't tracked.
- Programming has narrowed down to the same handful of event types on repeat.
- The Programming Bank doesn't exist, or it's a folder no one opens.
- Best practices live in individual leaders' heads — and walk out the door when they do.
- The program feels active but quiet — events happen, but the cultural footprint isn't growing.
- Leadership is asking "what's next" — but the program hasn't fully delivered on what's now.
Get great at Mid Adolescence, and everything that comes next becomes easier.
Skip it — or try to shortcut it — and every phase after this one feels harder than it has to be. The work in this phase is often invisible. But it's where the culture of the ERG program is truly shaped.