Peer Advisory Boards: Commitment Part 2

We have been providing the step by step guide to creating your own peer advisory board.  This post is dedicated to commitment.  The last post was dedicated to choosing the members of your board

To recap, a Peer Advisory Board is a team of carefully selected team of like-minded peers that will provide for you:

• Accountability
• Brainstorm ideas, introduce new concepts
• Guidance
• Work through business challenges

A team is a group of people that work together to accomplish something.  What would a baseball team be without someone at first base?  How could a football team function without it’s quarterback? 

The Peer Advisory Board is no different.  Without all members present, the group cannot accomplish it’s mission.  All members are critical to the success of the meeting.  The group was deliberately chosen to provide insight, experience, and wisdom to each other. Without them, everyone will miss out, including the member not present.  Each member has a role to play at the meeting.  The presenter (individual with the challenge) is looking to the group to provide information to help them create a solution. Without their team, they won’t have the benefit of collaboration.  The other members of the group also benefit from the presenter and feedback shared at the meeting.  If anyone isn’t present, that person’s contribution is missed. 

How do you create a committed team?

There are 2 ways:

First, upon conception of the group,  each person you choose must understand what they are committing to and the value of participation.  Some red flags would be someone who tells you that they can’t  predict their schedule and they will do the best they can.  Or, “I’ll be there unless I have a chance to meet with a prospect.”  These are not qualified board members.   Every member needs to be at every meeting.  Reschedule when a conflict arises, rather than conduct the meeting without them.

Second, fulfill on the value of the group.  Stick to the agenda. Begin and end on time. Keep conversations on track. Assign responsibilities to other members in the group and make sure members come to the meeting prepared. 

A committed group will thrive and grow together.  When commitment isn’t present, the group will eventually lose interest and cease to exist.

Next time we will discuss the importance of the pre-set schedule.

Quote of the day

Today’s Quote is:

“Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.” 

 Stephen Covey

 

Quote of the Week

“You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself.”

- Galileo Galilei

 

It has been my experience that we (as people) decide when to change our behaviors and actions.  We can read books, attend seminars, seek advice and try to model our behavior after those who have come before us.  However, the true change only applies when we decide the course of action for ourselves.  Nobody can make us change.

Sure, I have tried to change my behavior, because someone else told me to do so, but I found that at the end of the day I was not only back to my original way of doing things, but I resented myself and the person who told me what to do. 

As a child it was a constant battle to keep my room clean.  It was expected, and there were consequences if it wasn’t done.  Cleaning my room was a chore and no matter how hard I tried, it never seemed to be clean.  Today, I have my own home that needs to be maintained, much larger than my 10 X 12 bedroom, yet nobody has had to tell me to pick up after myself.  It just gets done.  The change occured when it mattered to me, when it was my decision.

How can we help others that want change?

The key word is WANT.  If someone wants to change, and doesn’t know how.  Our role is simple, we can do it in 3 steps.

1. Listen
2. Ask Questions (Open – Ended)
3. Share our own experience

The receiver of the information, can then create their own course of action.

Quote of the week

“Ask yourself the easy questions and you’ll have a hard life, ask yourself the hard questions and you’ll have an easier life!” by Peter Thomson

Related Article: General Douglas MacArthur’s Principles of Leadership

Magic pills, wands, and pixie dust

A few weeks ago I posted an entry

“Magic pills, magic wands, and gurus are best kept in the Fairytale books. The tools you need to grow your business are Leadership, knowledge, and self-discipline.”

I found this video to illustrate my point. Enjoy

Mad TV Eat Less, Move More Video

Keiserism of the Week

Magic pills, magic wands, and gurus are best kept in the Fairytale books. The tools you need to grow your business are Leadership, knowledge, and self-discipline.

By 2010 $13.9 Billion per year will be spent on self help techniques. Although I am a firm believer in self development, it is frightning to see how many of us invest large amounts of time and money on finding the secret to their success and happiness. For some it can become an addiction, going from one self help book, seminar, retreat to the next. Your happiness and satisfaction lie in your accomplishments. Think of all the happiness and satisfaction you would have achieved if your were as committed to having it as opposed to achieving it.

I recently watched the movie “Into The Wild” Christopher McCandless went on a quest to seek the truth, he thought the magic pill would be found in the Alaskan wilderness. He paid the ultimate price to find something he already had.

Book Recommendation of the Week

Today’s book is……………

How To Become a CEO by Jeffrey Fox

Happy 4th of July

This entry is dedicated to our country’s first entrepreneurs. The ones who took the greatest risk of all and had the courage to follow their passion, and stand by their decision.

“But, the greatest decision of all time, as far as any American citizen is concerned, was reached in Philadelphia, July 4, 1776, when fifty-six men signed their names to a document, which they well knew would bring freedom to all Americans, or leave every one of the fifty-six hanging from a gallows! ” Napoleon Hill

Chapter 8 Think & Grow Rich

The 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence.

This country was founded on courage and risk. The desision to become an entrepreneur also takes courage and risk, but none so great as our Founding Fathers.

Thank you for paving the way.