The most productive, innovative and engaged workers are those who build extremely broad, mutually beneficial, uplifting relationships within their organizations. One easy way to build those relationships is by joining an employee resource group within your organization.

But that’s not the only benefit. Listen in for the 5 reasons you should join an employee resource group within your organization.

Drink of the week….Smoky Mezcal Fig Sour

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Julie Brown:

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Over the summer.

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I wrote a new keynote.

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All about the power of internal

networking and how the most productive,

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innovative, and engaged workers are.

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Those who build.

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Extremely broad, mutually beneficial

and uplifting relationships

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within their organization.

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Welcome to episode 1 66 of this shit

works a podcast dedicated to all

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things, networking, relationship

building and business development.

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I'm your host, Julie Brown.

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Speaker author and networking coach.

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And today I am discussing why

joining your company's ERG.

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This is one of the quickest ways

to build cross silo networks

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within your organization.

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So the keynote was about 45 minutes

long and it outlines why it is so

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important to not just retain employees,

but to create cultures of relationship

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building within our organizations.

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The reasons are vast and include

attracting new talent, retaining

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talent, avoiding burnout, and loneliness.

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In our employees.

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And creating more competitive

and profitable companies.

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In addition to laying out why we should

be encouraging internal networks and cross

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silo, communication and collaboration.

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I created a.

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Framework, you know, for opportunities

that companies can take advantage

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of to help create these connections.

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And one of them is to create

groups within our office around

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shared interests or identities.

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So employee resource groups.

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You know, companies benefit from

employee resource groups and a number of

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different ways, but I want to highlight

the five reasons why you should join

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an ERG and what you can get out of

getting involved in the ERG that are

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available to you at your company.

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Ready.

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Okay.

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One.

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Access to senior leadership.

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Most employee resource groups have

support from and direct communication

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with senior leaders within the company.

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And a number of senior leaders

will also be members of that ERG.

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And what better way to get to know a

number of leaders within your company

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and build relationships with them?

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Too.

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Networking, of course, that

was going to be one of them.

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When you join an ERG based off of

an interest or identity, you get to

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network with people from throughout

the company and across silos that you

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might never have had access to before.

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And, you know, you already have that

interest or identity in common as

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the foundation of your relationship.

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It's so important to get to know

and build relationships with as many

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people as possible in your company.

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And the employee resource groups

are a great way to do that.

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Oh

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three.

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Professional development.

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Most employee resource groups

have a budget for training

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or professional development.

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I've spoken to a number of

local national and international

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and believe resource groups.

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And those people within those

groups are sometimes the only

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people within the company that get

access to my networking workshop.

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Because that specific ERG has the

budget to bring in outside speakers.

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For.

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Uh, education and allyship.

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By joining ERG that aren't

part of your specific identity.

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You will become more educated in regards

to other interests and identities, and

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you can also become a stronger ally and

advocate for others within your company.

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This is important for everyone.

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And five finally community.

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ERG is we'll give you a safe

space for relationship building.

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To ask questions to help with

navigating office politics and

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also with professional and career

development, they really are a win-win.

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So this was just five of the top reasons

why you should be joining an employee

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resource group within your company.

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There are so, so many more.

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And I got to tell you over the years,

I've thoroughly enjoyed the work I've done

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with various employee resource groups.

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You know, women's employee resource,

groups, young professionals, employee

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resource groups, specifically.

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I've had a front row seat to the kind

of relationships and professional

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development these groups can offer.

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And so I encourage you to join one in your

firm and if your firm doesn't have any.

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Then talk with leadership

about how you might be able to

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create them within the office.

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Really, I mean, it's a win-win

for you and for the company.

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Okay.

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Onto the drink of the week,

which I'm so excited about.

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It is the smokey mez, Cal fig sour,

which I'm going to be upfront with you.

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It takes a little bit of prep

work, but it's totally worth it.

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Because this recipe is for our crowd.

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So whip it up for any day of the dead

or how wean parties you have coming up.

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Okay.

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And parts of it can be made in advance.

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Here's what you're going to need.

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One and a third cups of simple syrup.

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We've talked about how to

make this on the show before.

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10 dried figs, halved.

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One four inch piece of ginger

peeled and thinly sliced.

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One whole bottle of mezcal, one in a

quarter cups, fresh lemon juice from

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like about eight large lemons, three

fourths cup water, and a whole nutmeg.

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You know what?

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You don't need a whole number.

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Like you just need graded number.

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I don't know why they

put a hold on the mic.

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So this is step one.

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Ready?

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We're going to make a ginger

ginger fig simple syrup.

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What you're going to do is you're

gonna take the simple syrup.

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The figs and the ginger and a small

soft payout pan and bring to a boil

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over medium and then reduced to low.

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And simmer until the figs are softened,

which will take about five minutes.

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Then remove that from the heat

and let it cool for 30 minutes.

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And then after it cools,

refrigerate it refrigerator it for

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eight hours or up to overnight.

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And then we're going to strain it.

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We're going to pour that through a mesh.

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So we get the, you know, the

ginger and the, the figs out of

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it, that the solids out of it.

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And then we have our ginger fig.

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Syrup.

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So we're going to store

that in a container.

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You can store it up for a week, so you

see, you can prep this ahead of time.

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And I am totally thinking

about bringing this to that the

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neighborhood Halloween party.

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So anyways, you can make that ginger

syrup up to a week in advance.

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Now, when you want to make the

big picture of cocktail, this

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is what you're going to do.

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You're going to pour that whole

bottle of mescal into a pitcher.

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Pour one and a quarter cups

of the fig ginger syrup.

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You might have to put it through.

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Um, Uh, mash again to get any

of the remaining pieces out.

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But if you don't, you don't, it's fine.

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Then add the lemon juice and

the water and then refrigerator.

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Refrigerate it until it's chilled, which

will probably take about two hours.

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Um, or again, you want to make it a

day before refrigerated overnight.

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And then when you're ready to serve,

pour it over in a rocks glass, but

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over one of those big ice cubes.

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And so specifically for this, oh my God.

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I'm so excited.

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Specifically for this cocktail for the

Halloween party, I bought ice cube molds,

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like big ice cube molds that are skulls.

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Um, I found them at, at home

goods at TJ Maxx Marshall's home

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goods, whatever it was anyway.

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So there might still be some there,

but I'm so excited to have skulls.

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Yeah.

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As the ice for this anyways.

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Um, I'm going off anyways.

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Okay.

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And then, you know, they say

as a garnish to just put some,

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they say freshly grated, nutmeg.

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Just sprinkle some nutmeg over it.

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Okay.

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Oh, my God.

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I'm so excited about these.

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, ice cubes.

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All right friends.

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That's all for this week.

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If you like what you heard

today, please leave a review

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and subscribe to the podcast.

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Also, please remember to share the podcast

to have it reach a larger audience.

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If you want more, Julie

Brown, you can find my book.

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This shit works on Amazon

or Barnes and noble.

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You can find me on

LinkedIn at Julie Brown BD.

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Just let me know where you found me.

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When you reach out, I am Julie Brown

underscore BD on the Instagram, or you

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just, you can pop on over to my website,

Julie Brown, bd.com until next week.

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Cheers.

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Go get yourself those ice cubes.

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Hey, thanks for taking the time to listen.

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Be sure to subscribe to the

podcast so you never miss a tip.

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And remember, you can unapologetically

be who you authentically are

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and still be wildly successful.

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That's a fact.

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See you next week on This Shit Works.

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Okay.