Product Plugs: Peer Advisor Groups

Note about Product Plugs:  Joe promotes and reviews products that he has used.  There is no compensation for products Joe has used unless it is declared in his product plug.  Also note that the reviews aren't a detailed comparison to competitive products.  Joe will share what he knows about competitive products, but doesn't research them thoroughly.

For 10+ years, I was part of a business owner peer advisor group.  First, I was a member of The Alternative Board (TAB).  Then I joined a C12 group.

I found it very helpful in developing my business and management skills.  I started documenting things that I learned, and these things contributed greatly to this website.  I probably wouldn't even have Visit With Joe if I hadn't been part of a peer group.

If you are a person who likes group discussions and learning from others, you would probably like one of these groups.  I recommend it highly.

Here's how it works in general.  The group has a facilitator who runs the group as a small business.  The facilitator might have 3 or 4 total groups, and is tied into a national network.  The group meets once a month for half a day or a full day.  There is usually a curriculum to help guide the group discussion, but the main part of the meeting is discussion about issues that the members bring before the group.  In many ways, the group acts as your Board of Directors, and they don't hold anything back. That's good, because as business leaders, we don't need more yes-men.  We need honest feedback.

Here's my experience with each group:

TAB stands for The Alternative Board, so even in the name, they recognize your peer group acts like a Board of Directors.  TAB's group meeting was for half a day, and the facilitator would come visit me for one hour a month.  

My TAB group was great.  I learned that we all had the similar problems--sales and personnel--and learned great lessons from every person in my group.  Many of the folks in my group are good friends to this day.

Vistage is a group similar to TAB.  I'm not familiar with them personally, but from what I can gather, they work in a very similar way to TAB.

C12 is a Christian-based peer advisory group.  It works similar to TAB, but has quite a bit of Bible study and accountability.  The meetings are longer, almost a full day per month.  My C12 group was more curriculum based than TAB, but I'm not sure if it really was by design, or if our facilitators just emphasized it differently..  

I was in a C12 Group for several years after TAB.  I enjoyed it.  I've been a church guy all my life, so I was comfortable in C12.  We talked a lot about the purpose and higher calling of being in business.  Sometime the group meeting was just a bit too long for me, but overall a very good group and experience.

In all the groups, the facilitator is really important, and can make or break the group dynamics.  I was fortunate to always have good facilitators in my groups.  If you join a group and have a bad facilitator, shop around.  It will be worth the experience.  

I believe it is important to always keep learning and always be evaluating your performance as a business owner.  These peer advisory groups are one good way to do that.