Having a close circle of fellow business founders to tap into for insight and support helps leaders to develop and grow

The best business leaders commit to investing time and money in their continued growth in both competency and maximising their effectiveness. They score high on self-awareness, understanding their strengths and weaknesses. They establish personal goals for growth and work towards achieving those goals.

Participation in a business peer group is a great catalyst for achieving this growth. A strong peer group can help a leader recognise areas for growth and set and achieve goals. Membership and participation in a peer group can also effectively overcome some of the hurdles that a leader might face in going at it alone.

The most effective peer group is a small but committed group of business leaders with a range of experience, expertise and personalities. The group will not include competitors or other sources of conflict of interest. The members must all be trustworthy and able to hold confidentially everything that is shared in the group. The most important ingredient is the desire and willingness to have a positive impact on each other’s lives.

From this foundation, the output benefits of participating in a strong peer group include:

• Escaping the Isolation Trap of Leadership: “It’s lonely at the top” There is a lot more to this than it being a cliché. Whereas a group of business leader peers can understand, accept and respond appropriately to any struggles that their fellow leaders might face.

• Gaining Different Perspectives: we each see issues and challenges from a viewpoint that is based on our unique experiences and knowledge. 

• Re-energised by Empathy and Support: business leaders are generally wired in such a way that they pour into other people’s lives. But they often are so busy doing so that they don’t have the time or the support network to pour into their lives. All humans have emotional needs for acceptance, affirmation, containment, empathy, etc. Without any inflow, our emotional tanks run dry and we feel we have little or nothing left to give. A group of business leader peers help to keep each other’s tanks full

• Learning from other's competencies: with a group that has a mix of skills and backgrounds, there is much to gain in both experience and depth of knowledge. 

• Enhanced Self-Awareness: Enhance member self-awareness is accomplished by the group asking thought-provoking questions rather than just providing answers and advice.

• Benefiting from Accountability: where members commit to goals and actions, the group will hold each other accountable. 

• Creating a Test Environment: the chance to think through what a difficult conversation might look like and even to practice it can reduce anxiety and provide valuable preparation work for a positive dialogue and successful outcome.

• Non-Judgmental Support & Confidentiality: a peer group that consists of trusted advisors who are able to maintain strict confidentiality is a highly valuable sounding board. 

• Receiving Informed Strategic Guidance from an External ‘Board of Advisors’: leaders get value from an external but informed ‘board of advisors’ that have become familiar with their organisation.