Do You Have a Board of Advisors?

I have just returned from a remarkable three days.  I was attending the second meeting of a Board of Advisors.  When I was first asked to serve on this board, I was not at all certain how it would operate or what the real purpose was for the group.  I am a very big fan of peer advisory groups.  If you read here, you know I was a Vistage Chair here in Little Rock for over a decade.  Ironically, the invitation came through one of the Vistage online communities and the CEO is a member of a Vistage group in Washington State.

The company involved in this story, is too small to have an actual Board of Directors outside of the CEO and owner’s purview.  But what I have seen so far is a remarkably impactful way for a CEO  (who is already a Vistage member) to create an advisory board that can bring the best of a Board of Directors without the political overhead or the need to cede control.  So, this month, I want to share a blueprint for setting a Board of Advisors for small to medium sized companies.

First, pick advisors you would have as consultants

You will likely engage with them as consultants.  Having a board of outside advisors already indicates a desire to grow, increase profits, improve efficiencies, and find new markets.  Most founders know a specific part of the business well—and other areas, not so much.  So, the board might include people with finance, sales, marketing, technology, organizational development, as well as industry specific skills.

Be clear about consulting roles.  

There may be needs for the skills of your board of advisors as consultants.  As long as there is no conflict of interest created, this is a powerful asset to the CEO, since the board members would already have a clear understanding of the issues and strengths of the organization, as well as those of the key executives.  In the case of the board I am serving on, three of the five members are actively engaged in activities ranging from a major change project to outsourcing all IT management functions. Given that all the work is visible to the entire board, there is the extra value of all the work being coordinated.

Board meetings are powerful and remarkably free of politics.  

The back-and-forth discussions are aimed more at exploring options through different points of view than anyone campaigning for promotion or power.  While there is some overlay in expertise in the board, we each have a role to fulfill in advising the CEO.  But the conversations uncover significant insight and creative strategies in the areas where there is overlap.  In a recent meeting, we had a lively discussion about three different ways to approach prioritization and funding of change projects.  The discussions unearthed several opportunities to meld ideas into something altogether new.

As a member of the board, I can tell you that I have learned a ton for my participation.  The CEO set this up as a learning experience.  No one at the table is getting their full day rate for our time at meetings.  A couple have taken on major engagements.  Others have so far done very little in the way of direct work for the company.  But the value that the CEO gets with brainpower like that around the table is priceless.  And for those of us participating, it is like paid personal development days.

I will likely end up doing some coaching and development work for the leadership team—so my board participation is basically paid business development as well.  But the person who benefits most is the CEO who put it together.  He has five senior advisors who would normally bill $5k each per day around the table for a quarterly meeting that costs a fraction of that rate as well as the travel and entertainment costs.

And, as a member of the Board of Advisors, I get to work shoulder to shoulder with really smart people in a learning environment I would willingly pay for—as well as pick up some business for my own contributions to the charter of the board.