Being a business owner can be challenging and may include facing unchartered territory. However, it doesn’t have to be lonely at the top – your business deserves more than the occasional conversation with a mate. It deserves to aggregate the experience and a shared knowledge of collective awareness from fellow executives.
Operating a business typically presents complex issues, sometimes on a daily basis. Imagine if you could leverage the experience from an extensive group of industry peers to improve your decision-making and future-proof a sustainable business, whilst being held accountable?
Also imagine if you gained the peace of mind to seamlessly access these answers and navigate other business challenges and lessons learnt within a safe haven, simply by connecting with entrepreneurs and business leaders? This is the strength of a peer to peer advisory board.
In fact, joining a peer advisory board is a proven strategic approach – one of the measurable ways you can provide greater value to your business and your personal development by investing time in a cohesive peer advisory environment. This collaboration environment enables you to generate and discuss innovative ideas, facilitate growth and gain a temperature reading on your work-life balance. In essence bring value to your company and your holistic well-being.
Should you decide to sell your business, your business valuation will depend less on you, which equates to more time for you and your family and scaling effectively guaranteeing more money in your pocket.
1. Every business and every day presents new challenges
If you think nobody else has faced arduous business decisions and dealing with challenging assumptions, think again. It makes sense to surround yourself with a trusted peer group of advisors who have walked the path before, relieve yourself of avoidable pressure, offer new direction and mitigate risk for your business. This could be a game changer!
As advisory board members become more familiar with each other’s businesses they are well positioned to offer personalised fresh insights regarding how to operate your business more efficiently and how to increase sales, as well as addressing personnel problems.
In today’s business environment the rate at which business leaders learn is an emerging competence. Establishing an advisory board (learning forum) is a simple mechanism to access external wisdom, and focus learning specifically around the business and the needs of the owner/MD.
Ben Kehoe, Director Industry Consulting Group Oct 2009
2. Gain from the mistakes of others
Why make mistakes if you don’t have to? Significant time, money and resources can be saved by not having to reverse engineer poor business decisions and capitalise on the wisdom of others. Apple’s late founder, Steve Jobs is arguably the poster child for transitioning from failure to success and learning from other people’s costly mistakes. This tech mastermind dropped out of college, launched a business, got kicked out of it and later rejoined when it was failing. One of Jobs primary motivations achieving success as he cited, “All fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”
The most cost effective way to learn is to study the shared commitment and experiences, failures and wise counsel from others, which is immeasurable within a framework of obtaining honest feedback from peer mentors.
3. Your opportunity to give back
The most effective peer groups are ones which consist of a give and take dynamic, providing a conducive forum for business owners to share their experiences, expertise and give back to their fellow colleagues. Additionally, this sharpens your leadership strengths which will translate into being a better motivator and mentor for your employees, stakeholders and business constituents.
We learn by giving as well as by receiving! Some Coraggio tips to support your fellow peers may be framing empowering questions such as:
- If you were operating as a successful business person, what would you do this week?
- Imagine your confidence was no longer an issue, what would you do differently?
- How relieved would you feel if you addressed this issue and get things done?
- What do you think is the next step to take this strategy forward?
4. Upskill to become the best version of yourself
Managing growth can be challenging. Every business owner has to assess their strengths, master specific skill sets to guarantee success and augment their competencies. What better way to identify these “blind spots” then to observe successful entrepreneurs and high performing industry leaders. The outside perspective and vast experience of your fellow advisory board members will tremendously assist moving the needle of your business and create “light bulb moments”.
Coraggio’s, CEO, Richard Skarzynski cites,
“He or she who knows their weaknesses, has no weaknesses. As business owners we don’t know what we don’t know. Being part of an established advisory board can be life changing by receiving actionable monthly feedback working on the premise of openness, complimenting not complicating your life”.
An external peer to peer advisory board across a diverse array of industries come together as equals in a confidential atmosphere of mutual respect, providing an existing structure with the tools to facilitate your journey to think about your business in a different way, share concerns and maintain more equity in your business. This setting is an unique opportunity to become a highly effective business operator by receiving and offering unbiased advice and objective perspectives regarding your business operationally and strategically incorporating sales, marketing, finance, HR, strategic planning, IT, mergers & acquisitions, partners and time management.
5. Minds work best like parachutes – OPEN!
None of us is as smart as all of us! How amenable are you to hearing alternative points of view and considering business insights from powered peers? The reality is most people find it challenging adopting new methods of doing things or considering there may be a more effective way. Take a moment to ponder – what if there is a better way?
Fear is a precursor to change. Defining your fears is as critical as defining your goals, because the fear not to try new ideas and have a go, may be obstructing your road to tangible results.
Instead, the adaption of seamlessly accessing answers and navigating business challenges as they arise by connecting with empathetic, knowledgeable industry peer leaders is the strength of peer to peer leadership facilitating a high level strategy and fostering a spirit of collaboration.
6. Are you prepared to be kept accountable?
Who is keeping you accountable and “on your toes” on a daily basis? Accountability is fundamentally one of the primary drivers to operating, scaling and navigating a successful business. Many business owners are “busy” putting out fires instead of focussing on the significant steps which will spearhead your business.
A group of peers will positively peer pressure you towards tracking, tracing and moving forward with your goals within another dimension from your day to day interactions.
Coraggio’s National Chairman, John Swete Kelly cites,
“Peer to peer advisory boards present an opportunity for open, transparent business discussions on a deeper professional and emotional level in a structured setting. This facilitates a safe platform to set business standards, solid reasoning and clear accountability amongst non-competitive businesses towards deriving sustainable outcomes, measurable results and huge dividends.”
7. The power of a sense of community and belonging
This safe environment generates participation and openness encompassing vulnerability enabling focussed discussions and intellectual resources to improve and grow each other’s businesses within a trusted peer coaching bonding experience. When you feel secure enough to be coerced out of your comfort zone; companionship, inspiration and magic ensues. In fact, a social connection during times of adversity in an increasingly isolated world has never been more critical.
Strengthening connections amongst colleagues generates subjective psychological bonds which is one of the most effective ways to increase productivity, gain greater perspective and heighten personal achievement. This trust creates an open, comfortable environment offering a diversity of opinions, forming a common denominator collaborative bond.
8. Coraggio presents a seamless cost-effective solution
Leading business owners and entrepreneurs join Coraggio to become part of a highly effective business community guaranteeing leadership, facilitating accountability and sharing innovative ideas within a cohesive and confidential national network.
Coraggio offers a mutual exchange of expertise, ideas and support system enabling you to capitalise on a give-and-take dynamic amongst advisors who have walked the path before mitigating risk to your business.
This mutual exchange of member’s expertise tangibly results in generating sustainable revenue streams, increased cash reserves and productive business outcomes for their Members.
Coraggio Chairs are industry leaders, Members are forward-thinking advisors and all Advisory Boards are dedicated to the ongoing success of their fellow Member’s businesses, offering Fearless Objective Advice – that’s the Coraggion Spirit!
Afterall, in the words of Henry Ford
“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself”.
Would you like to be a part of this?
Become an integral Member of a confidential group of business owners sharing their insights and experiences for the benefit of your business? Imagine how your business would prosper from connecting with a broader community consisting of more than 400 high performing and driven industry leaders!
Explore Membership today! Find out how our proven program can assist you build a better business and become a better leader.