We know leading a business can be incredibly challenging and exciting, particularly in today’s fast-changing environment. But did you know how lonely it can be, especially with the increased uncertainty of the economy and how that will influence buying? Who can you talk to when you’re not sure what action to take? Not your team, or financial backers.
Having experienced both the highs, lows and ‘headaches’ of being a business leader, I’m passionate about helping other business leaders grow stronger businesses, without all the headaches! So we’ve set up a Peer 2 Peer Mastermind group at the beautiful 4-star Burley Manor in the New Forest. It’s provides precious time to work on the strategy of the business, which is often hijacked by the immediate short-term pressures.
The power of the Mastermind Group was highly recommended by Napoleon Hill in his classic book, Think and Grow Rich, and the business magnate Andrew Carnegie attributed his entire fortune to the power he accumulated through his Mastermind Group.
“When a group of individual brains are coordinated and function in harmony, the increased energy created through that alliance becomes available to each individual brain.” Napoleon Hill.
Each Peer 2 Peer Board consists of three vital elements: Member Updates and Insights, Skill Up Workshop, Hot Seat Business Challenge, and is supported by mentoring as well as peer support. It’s suitable for ambitious business owners, leaders and senior managers with teams.
Our first Skill Up Workshop focused on Ambitious Leadership, and in particular upon Creating a Compelling Purpose. Ambitious Leadership is a vital building block in strong businesses, and this needs to be fuelled by passion aligned with customer needs and strong capability – hence the need for a Compelling Purpose that ALIGNS your team at every level. One of our Board Members, the wonderful Dr Hannah Beard, subsequently completed this exercise with her full team to create their own shared Compelling Purpose and Guiding Principles, which they’re now using to guide their business decisions, messaging and behaviours.
Imagine if your car wheels are misaligned, the steering column is clunky and there’s something rattling in your boot. Not only is that hugely annoying, it’s also risky – and so we’d get it fixed as soon as possible. However, when similar things happen in our business we think it’s normal. When teams are pulling in different directions, or working in silos, or complaining, we tend to put up with it. But, just like our cars, it’s draining our energy, our performance and is potentially putting our business at risk.
According to Crucial Conversations, conflict arises where three elements collide. These are opposing opinions, strong emotions and high stakes. This is misalignment at its worst. Having a mutual purpose everyone believes in helps align the team and avoid conflicts. When our mutual purpose is more important than the small things that often lead to conflict, we can find solutions more easily which pull people together to work as a team. We need a compelling purpose that aligns our passion, purpose capability AND customer needs. The tool we used in our workshop is adapted from the Japanese model for ‘Ikigai’ – known as the secret for a long and happy life.
With our Compelling Purpose and Guiding Principles, we can create a strong brand and values that really hit a chord with our employees AND our customers. Then we can create our strategy, our vision, our mission, our objectives and our KPIs that are all aligned to that compelling purpose. And that’s why our first skill up workshop started here, with Ambitious Leadership.
Does your business need an Aspirin?
Our second Peer 2 Peer Board Meeting at Burley is on 17th September. Our focus will move onto sales and profits, and our Skill Up Workshop will be on Defining a Compelling Business Proposition for customers.
Aspirin’s ‘Why?’:
We love how businesses enable people to be more and to do more than they ever thought they could and the way they bring people together to create mutual success. We’re passionate about the role businesses play in our society and communities. Today more than ever we need our businesses to play an important role, to be a force for good in strengthening our society and empowering people to be their best selves, particularly in these times of uncertainty.
Our Director and Peer2Peer Board Chair, Susannah used to be Finance Director of a technology business in Nottinghamshire in the waste industry, helping to grow it from a start-up to over £10m turnover and through a successful sale.
For the past four years, we’ve been running business seminars and leaders’ academies, bringing people together for support and shared learning. We’re always looking to add more value and create a better experience so when Susannah ran in to Christopher Bayliss last year and decided to join a Peer2Peer board herself, she knew that she had found what she was looking for. That was to create a more proven way of building significant success for businesses and doing it in a way that is enjoyable.
If that’s what you’re looking for as well; that proven way to have more success and enjoy it then we may be the perfect company for you to come and work with by being part of our Peer2Peer board.
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