How to choose a peer advisory group for business owners
Peer groups · Leadership · 7 min read ·
Owning a business is lonely in a specific way. Your team reports to you, your family worries about you, and your advisors bill you. Very few people in your life can tell you you're wrong and have the experience to back it up. That's the job a peer advisory group does.
What a good group gives you
- Owners a step or two ahead of you who have solved the problem you're stuck on.
- Confidential space to bring the decisions you can't discuss with your team.
- Accountability. When you say you'll do something, the table asks about it next month.
What to look for
Size. Small tables go deeper. Around eight to twelve members lets everyone bring a real issue to every meeting.
Fit. The best groups are curated. Members should be close enough in stage that the advice applies, but different enough in strengths to cover each other's gaps.
Facilitation. Ask who runs the room. A skilled facilitator who has owned and exited a business keeps meetings honest and on the hard questions.
Rules. Confidentiality, no selling to each other, and showing up. If a group doesn't enforce these, the trust never forms.
Questions to ask before you join
- Who else sits at the table, and how were they chosen?
- What does a typical meeting look like?
- What happens when a member stops showing up?
- Is the group focused only on running the business, or also on what comes after it?
When to move on
If you've stopped bringing real issues, or the table can no longer help with the stage you're in, it's time for a different room. Outgrowing a group is a sign of progress, not failure.
