Let’s start with something uncomfortable but important: your ERG program might be struggling because of how much you’re doing.

A lot of ERG Program Managers pride themselves on being hands-on. You jump in to keep things moving. You fill gaps. You fix problems before they escalate. And for a while, it works. The program survives. Sometimes it even looks successful. But survival isn’t the same as maturity.

Last year, I attended a business workshop. Most of the room was founders, operators, and investors—not corporate folks. But because I believe ERG programs should be run like businesses, I pay attention to those spaces.

One concept that stood out immediately was key man risk (gender-agnostic—the principle still applies).

In business, one of the biggest risks to long-term success is when one person does everything. Investors know that if that person disappears—burnout, resignation, role change, life—the business is instantly unstable. No systems. No continuity. No scalability. Now apply that same logic to ERGs.

If your ERG program can’t function without you, then you are the risk.

If you’re the one:

Then the program isn’t strong—it’s dependent. And dependency doesn’t scale. It doesn’t mature. It doesn’t survive leadership changes.

Until you build systems that allow the ERG program to operate without you doing everything, the program is always one departure away from collapse.

This is where many ERG PMs get stuck.

You’re operating like the doer-in-chief instead of the strategic owner of the program. And I get it—your strengths are often the very things your ERG leaders lack. But here’s the problem:

The areas where you are strongest are usually where the program becomes weakest.

Because every time you step in, you block someone else from stepping up. Every time you “just handle it,” you delay system-building. Every time you save the day, you reinforce dependency. That’s not leadership. That’s over-functioning.

Your role isn’t to execute everything. Your role is to design the system, set the standards, and coach the people inside it.

Think less: “How do I get this done?”

And more: “How does this get done without me?”

When ERG PMs operate as strategic coaches instead of doers, programs start to look mature. Predictable. Credible. Sustainable.

This year, one of your biggest decisions is this:

Will you continue to be the glue holding everything together—or will you build something that stands on its own?

Because you may not be the savior of your ERG program. You may be the thing quietly holding it back.

The question is whether you’re ready to stop being the risk—and start being the architect.

Next month’s theme is Blueprinting Success. We’ll be deep diving more on how yo remove your program’s “Key Person Risk.”

✌🏿 The ERG Homegirl