If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, the honest answer is that I’ve been trying to take care of a lot of things at once without burning myself out in the process.

I’ve had a few big client projects, product updates, upcoming launches, event prep, travel, and behind-the-scenes work all happening at the same time. And because burnout prevention is something I talk about so often in the ERG space, I’ve been trying to actually practice what I say. Sometimes you really do have to slow down to speed up.

That doesn’t mean things have been quiet. It just means I’ve been trying to be more intentional about where my energy goes.

Last week, I had the opportunity to lead a “Super Brain Date” at Great Place to Work’s 2026 For All Summit. It was a smaller group conversation with about 50 people in the room, focused on one of the questions I think every ERG program is trying to answer right now: How do we keep ERG momentum going without burning out the leaders doing the work?

The session was called “Low-Lift, High Engagement: How to Keep ERG Momentum Without Burning Out Your Leaders,” and I used it to walk through the things I keep coming back to with ERG programs: purpose, process, programming, engagement, sustainability, executive expectations, metrics, async engagement, and the reality that ERG leaders need more structure if companies want better outcomes.

I also shared why I believe the goal for ERG programs should be scale and sustainability. In the ERG context, that means increasing engagement and impact while decreasing unnecessary lift on volunteer leaders. More output, less burnout. That is the work.

A lot of what I covered was rooted in the 3Ps of ERGs: Purpose, Process, and Programming. Purpose helps everyone understand why the ERG program exists and what is actually in scope. Process makes the work easier for ERG leaders by giving them clear expectations, governance, systems, and support. Programming is where ERG leaders create the actual member experience through events, communications, and async activities.

That framework is not new to me, but this was one of the clearest ways I’ve explained it in a live setting. And honestly, it is the thing I hope more ERG programs understand before they keep asking leaders to do more.

Because a lot of ERG burnout is not happening because leaders do not care. It is happening because the program is unclear, the expectations are inconsistent, and the work keeps expanding without better systems behind it.

That’s why I’m sharing the recording from the session. Not because I want to turn this newsletter into a full recap, but because the session already says what I would probably end up saying here anyway.

So if you are an ERG Program Manager, ERG leader, DEI leader, Culture and Engagement partner, executive sponsor, or anyone trying to figure out how to make ERGs more sustainable, I think this is worth listening to.

You can listen to the podcast audio here.

And if you take nothing else from it, take this: ERG leaders do not need more pressure to perform. They need clearer structure, better systems, and programming strategies that do not depend on live events carrying the entire community experience.

Community without structure is just chaos. And I think a lot of ERG programs are ready for something better.