The Peer Advisory Group: Part II

The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), the voice of America’s 10.6 million women-owned businesses, has its own version of peer advisory groups. They are called NAWBOards—informative, supportive, motivating groups focused on exchanging ideas and best business practices in a small and intimate setting. Based on the members’ needs, a NAWBOard can act like a board of directors, a networking group or a group of professional women exchanging ideas about business and balance in their lives, according to the NAWBO Web site.

When Patty first started her company, she belonged to a NAWBOard of amazing, highly successful women. How she got into that group was anybody’s guess, Patty jokes, because she had been in business for only about 10 minutes. Patty wanted to hire her first employee, but she didn’t have a clue about payroll, taxes and withholding. The members of her NAWBOard jumped right in and gave Patty a basic “Employee 101” class, answering all of her questions. Thanks to their help, she started off on the right path and avoided some mistakes that could have been costly.

Start Your Own Peer Advisory Group

Sometimes it may be easier, more effective and more economical just to start your own peer advisory group. How do you go about creating one? Let’s say you are a sales manager, facing the same challenges and problems that other sales managers in other industries face. Seek out those other sales managers—not the ones in your industry, but the ones in non-competing industries. The reason behind this approach, of course, lies in protecting trade secrets from your competititon.

When your advisory group is composed of sales managers from other industries, however, you don’t have to worry about divulging trade secrets. Invite five or six people to meet with you on a regular basis, even if it’s only twice a year. It is important that everyone in the group commits to these meetings and to the group process.

Confidentiality is an absolute requirement. Sit down together and ask these other sales managers for their advice about what you should be doing and how you can advance yourself. Besides sales managers, maybe you can include a banker and an accountant in the group. Most people will be flattered when you ask them to participate in a peer advisory or mastermind group.

After you get commitment from your chosen individuals, make sure that you do not waste anyone’s time. Be prepared with a set of topics or questions to discuss, and provide this list to everyone ahead of the scheduled meeting so that they have time to ponder their input and possibly even do some research.

At the meeting, be prepared to “shut up and listen.” You asked for help. Now you must take the suggestions of your advisory group very seriously and act on their advice. Nothing will happen unless you take action! Not only must you act, but you must demonstrate to the group at the following meeting that you acted on their advice. Tell them the results. This is extremely important. If you fail to act, you will insult your peer advisory group in a fundamental way.

Don’t neglect to send each member of your peer advisory group a thank-you note or email to acknowledge their contribution to your career. It’s just good PR.