The Secret to Successful, High-Performing Business Advisory Boards
Business Advisory Boards —a group of experts from a diverse range of industries and experience —provide invaluable information and guidance in today's fast-paced and dynamic business environment where change occurs at warp speed. These Boards are a powerful tool for business leaders to strategically navigate the uncertainty of the business world, armed with the correct market information.
However, to reap the full benefits and rewards of a Business Advisory Board, you need to structure it correctly, with members who have expertise in a multitude of industries, backgrounds, subject areas, and experience.
When you join a professional business owner advisory board like The Alternative Board (TAB), you not only receive professional facilitation during board meetings, you are also matched with the right board for you and your company.
Below are some guidelines TAB follows to select board members, as well as organize and facilitate successful Business Advisory Boards.
Selecting Business Advisory Board members
To create a high-performing Business Advisory Board, consider including members from different industries and with varied expertise. Here's an excellent checklist to go through when selecting Business Advisory members:
Are they from sectors that are different from your organization's primary industry?
Are they experienced in the areas in which your business needs the most help?
Are they experienced in the realms your company wants to move toward in the future?
Do they fill any management gaps or gaps of expertise that exist in your organization?
Do they have experience working with enterprises that are larger in size, in growth mode, etc.?
Do they have experience working with organizations of higher complexity?
Are they willing to ask tough questions —instead of telling members what to do?
Last but not least, are they ready to commit time to regular meetings?
Setting up Business Advisory Board Meetings
One thing we know about Advisory Board members is that they are busy. Therefore, meetings should be scheduled well in advance.
Meetings also need to be productive. At The Alternative Board, we have a facilitator run the sessions, starting with a temperature check. At the onset, members fill out a questionnaire that allows them to rate their previous month on a scale of 1 to 10 for both personal and business. They also provide any financial metrics and KPIs, which are kept confidential within the Board. It also allows them to share their wins, opportunities, struggles, and emerging threats. This helps set the tone for the meetings and helps reflect and see the progress made each month. At the end of the session, everyone has work to do until the next meeting.
Creating a code of conduct and sharing it with the members
The goal of a good Business Advisory Board is to help grow the members and their businesses by providing sound advice and expert guidance. To minimize conflicts and honor the true purpose of a Business Advisory Board, it is essential to create a code of conduct and share it with the members.
At the Alternative Board, we call it the Good Member Charter. This charter is given to all members, and here's what it looks like:
The Board meeting belongs to you.
You are on the Board for help and to help rather than to impress others.
The success of the Board meeting rests partly with you.
Enter into discussion enthusiastically.
Give freely of your experience.
Confine your discussion on the topics on the agenda.
Say what you think.
Make your remarks impersonal and free from prejudice.
Listen alertly to the discussion.
Be patient with other members.
Appreciate other Members' points of view.
Avoid monopolizing the discussion.
Assist in reaching conclusions.
Be a good sport when the discussion goes against you
Be prompt and attend regularly.
Be prepared with what you have to discuss during the allocated time period.
In a nutshell, a good Business Advisory Board should be a sanctuary, a safe place for all the members to discuss their problems and solutions with growth-minded individuals like themselves. And all members must be formally briefed on these points. Only if all the members understand the above and adhere to these points will they become a powerful resource for each other.
“A good Business Advisory Board should be a sanctuary, a safe place for all the members to discuss their problems and solutions with growth-minded individuals like themselves. ”
We all know this: The moment you think you have it all right, you will stop growing your business. But we often fall into this trap as business owners. The role of a Business Advisory Board is to avoid this situation at all costs by asking questions and offering collective support, resources, and guidance to help you continue to grow now and into the future. These questions help you understand how to scale to become the business of your dreams, identify your limitations and how to overcome them and change the way you do things now to get a different result.
The strength of a Business Advisory Board lies not just in the members' expertise but also in the quality of questions they ask. These questions are invaluable and should challenge assumptions so business owners can envision new possibilities to propel their business to greater heights.
Being in business does not need to be lonely. Get the best advice from people like you, walking the walk —by joining a professionally facilitated Business Advisory Board like The Alternative Board (TAB).
Curious? Get in touch and we can discuss the right Board for your business situation.