Helen Down, Managing Director and Founder Advisory Boards NZ.
NZ business owners are starting to discover the benefits of forming an Advisory Board for themselves and their companies. From the numerous businesses that we have worked with they tell me some of the benefits are:
1. Advice with strategy and support with determining the strategic direction of the business
2. Increased confidence around decision making leading to quicker and more considered decisions
3. Improved internal disciplines and structures around reporting, performance management and accountability
4. Increased accountability to get things done
5. Help with succession planning and setting exit strategies.
Our Experiences: - Grant Raynor.
From 21 years in an advisory capacity to growing businesses, we have the benefit of seeing varying clients succeed and fail. Undoubtedly, those that do better than others are those that know enough to know that they don't know everything, and as a result seek out advice from respected advisors who have been where they are going. And no, that advice has not always been ours.
There is never a shortage of opinions. But there can sometimes be a shortage of wise counsel. The cost of not obtaining wise counsel can be both mistakes, but also missed opportunities. As someone who dispenses advise we can fall into the trap of thinking we know it all when it comes to challenging business decisions. However, when we're looking at new and big decisions, we gather our advisory board for input. We have first looked at the decision from every angle we can see and developed plans to navigate the risks. The role of our advisor is to look at it in a different way and see what we haven't seen. Sometimes, we gain confidence that there is nothing we've missed. Other times we find that we've missed something that if ignored could be a potential threat.
It's fair to say that the biggest impact had on our decision-making is in the area of our mindset - sometimes we've thought too conservatively (our nature or personality), when its the right time to expand our thinking and believe we can do more, go further...
This year we launched our Advisory Board service for our clients to make available to them access to the above benefits. This can be shaped in a monthly, 2-monthly or quarterly timetable to suit the needs of the client. Others just use this service on an ad-hoc basis, as and when strategic direction requires validation, or pressure testing.
To find out more, contact Grant Raynor.