ERG (Employee Resource Group) Effort Retros are critical to a program’s long-term success. See here for a quick rundown of why prioritizing reporting through a retro or debriefs can set you up for success. At a high-level, building good habits around retros make it possible to to build institutional knowledge, set historical context and get credit for your hard work.

Here are five must-haves in any good retro reporting process.

1. Consistent Framework

Establish a simple retro framework. It could be as simple as 5 questions you ask after an event or efforts wraps. The key here is consistency. Make sure you’re using the same, repeatable framework for every time you want to evaluate an ERG effort. This will make it much easier down the line to compare and contrast what’s worked and what hasn’t down the line.

2. Align to Goals

Tie the retros to the goals you’ve set as an ERG and a company. Check out our guide on goal-setting here. You can use a company-wide goal setting framework like OKRs or map efforts to widely-accepted ERG frameworks like the 4Cs.‍

3. Get Buy-In Across the Org

If you’re a program manager, make sure all your ERGs are using the same retro template. This way they can learn from each other and from their own efforts as the program matures. Make sure company leaders agree on the template format, questions and information captured so that they’re finding value in the debrief process and learning alongside employees.‍

4. Reminders!

It’s so simple, but reminding ERG leaders to fill out retros directly after an effort concludes can be so helpful. They’re probably feeling relieved to be done with it, but the information is still fresh in their mind as to what went well and what could be better. That information is gold! Don’t let it slip away in the business of the moment. You can send reminders manually or use a platform like Verbate to automate them.

5. Be intentional about Employee-Wide Surveys

Surveys can often feel like a go-to method to get a pulse on who attendees and employees feel about an event or effort. But, often, they’re not the most objective signal for whether something actually went well. For example, right after a heritage month event, it’s unlikely employees who watched their fellow ERG leaders work tirelessly to pull the event together will want to say something negative about their efforts (even if there is constructive criticism). What tends to be more useful is quarterly employee-wide surveys where employees can look holistically at the full slate of events and provide data on which ones stood out and why.

With these tips in mind, as long as you’re capturing some amount of consistent data and reporting about your ERG efforts, you’re off to the right start!