This is Part 1 of an 8 Part series that dives into the eight key benefits of having an advisory board and how it can help you, the business owner, achieve greater levels of success.
For more information on the benefits of forming an advisory board, listen to my interview on Social Geek Radio here.
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Getting the greatest value from your advisory board requires your board members to have a thorough understanding of your business: from its current financial situation to its recent successes and challenges. Ideally, this information is provided at least a week before each meeting so that advisory board members have an opportunity to review the materials, think through issues and have time to formulate their own thoughts and questions in advance.
And while this information is incredibly beneficial to the advisory board members – and the overall success of the meeting – the discipline of putting together this information benefits the owner, as well. From reviewing the financial statements to putting together an agenda, the process of preparing for each meeting forces the owner to take a comprehensive look at their business more regularly than they often would otherwise.
Why is this so important?
This regular exercise gives owners an opportunity to think critically about their business, reflect on its recent successes (or failures) and lay out the nagging questions or concerns that are weighing on their minds. Speaking from experience as a board member, I can tell you that a successful board won’t just evaluate the issues as they are given on the agenda, but they’ll carefully dig deeper to make sure there’s not a larger problem sitting below the surface that needs to be addressed first.
Without the owner taking the time to prepare that agenda, however, and identify a list of key issues to explore, we’d be ill prepared to take the deep dive needed to fully explore and resolve these issues.
Get a board, and get the benefits! If you’d like to know more, connect with me and I’ll share some ideas - anytime!
