Are You Ready for an Advisory Board?

If you've kept up to date with ScaleSmart, you know how important it is to think strategically and plan ahead. But if you're looking to scale to 8-figures and beyond but have never done that before yourself, why carry all that strategic thinking load yourself?

You don't know what you don't know right?

That's where Advisory Boards can be a big help.

This week, I'm going to give you the low-down on how Advisory Boards work, the pros and the cons so you can figure it you're ready for one AND so you can see if it's the right support structure for you and your business.

What is an Advisory Board?

An Advisory Board is a problem-solving support structure that brings a group of independent, talented and experienced professionals to the table to offer you strategic, non-binding advice.

Your Advisory Board helps you road-test your ideas, navigate big challenges and provide fresh perspectives to stretch and lift your thinking as an owner so that you can make the best and most informed decisions possible.

Think of your Advisory Board as your secret weapon for staying ahead of the competition!

Who Would Advisory Boards Suit?

If:

• you want support to help you scale the business up, prepare it for an exit or to step back and install management...

• you lack the experience you need to grow to the level you want at the speed you want, or

• your business isn't scaling at the rate you feel it could or should...

Then an Advisory Board model is probably a good fit for you.

What Kinds of Challenges Can an Advisory Board Help With?

Advisory Boards for the 1m-30m business segment typically end up focusing on things like:

• Growth strategy

• Exit, investment or succession

• New products, services and business models

• Market expansion

• Raising capital

• Technology transformation

• Organisational transformation

Who Shouldn't Consider Establishing an Advisory Board?

Advisory Board's aren't for everyone. There are some things you should ask yourself before you consider implementing one. If you answer yes to any of these, an Advisory Board might not be for you:

• Am I uncomfortable having my ideas challenged?

• Am I a natural procrastinator who takes a long time to make decisions or act?

• Am I looking for trophy Advisors purely for the purposes of raising capital?

• Am I engaged in any legally or ethically questionable activities?

• Am I at risk of insolvency?

If the answer is yes... an Advisory Board structure is probably not the right model for you at this stage. It won't be effective, and it will be a waste of time and money for you, and for your Advisors.

The Pros and Cons of Advisory Boards 

Like any support structure you put in place (consulting, mentoring, governance board, individual experts, informal advisory boards, friends and family, business peers etc) they all have pros and cons.

So what are they? Let's take a closer look...

*all ScaleHQ Advisory Board Chairs are certified, and follow best-practice frameworks and guidelines

I'll do a future article on Governance Boards to outline the pros and cons of a Governance Board structure.

For the avoidance of doubt they're absolutely no better or worse than each other, it's not a competition. In fact they can often work incredibly well together in a framework of organisational decision making.

That said, most readers of ScaleSmart are Founders of businesses with less than 10m-20m of revenue and therefore are typically not ready for a Governance Board structure, yet.

How Do Advisory Boards Differ to Mentoring?

A Growth Mentor works with a Founder (or co-Founders) direclty, without the assistance of other Advisors. In an Advisory Board setting, you get multiple perspectives in your meetings and you'll be amazed just how much value is generated in the debate between the Advisors.

At ScaleHQ, all of our Advisory Board clients combine their Advisory Board with Mentoring. You'd typically have a quarterly Advisory Board meeting and two monthly meetings with your Chair in between each quarterly Advisory Board. This enables you to really challenge your thinking quarterly in a group setting, and then work with your Chair to work through implementation issues and challenges in the monthly meetings in between.

How Much Does it Cost to Establish an Advisory Board?

Typically you'll have an Advisory Board Chair, and 1-2 additional Advisors.

You should expect to pay around 48k + GST p/a for your Chair. This includes 1/2 day of planned contact time every month, and covers all preparation, follow-up and ad-hoc phone calls and meetings in between. That could be short phone calls, meetings with key team members, partners, advisors or anything you need to ensure you can keep moving forward with decisions you need to make.

Then you also have 1-2 additional Advisors who turn up to each quarterly Advisory Board meeting. They typically charge 1.5-2.5k + GST per meeting.

This means over a year, you will be looking at a total investment of around 50k-70k + GST per annum in total depending on the number of Advisors.

By the way.. many Founders start with an "Advisory Board of 1" which means just the Founder and the Chair for a period of time, until they're ready to add additional Advisors.

How Much Time Will I Need to Commit?

Monthly meetings typically take 3 hours, whether that's for your 1-to-1 session with your Chair in between quarterly Advisory Board meetings, or for the Advisory Board meeting itself. Additionally, time to prepare documents will be required to enable optimal focus and value from the meetings.

Then of course you'll need to spend time planning and executing all of your brilliant ideas!

Okay.. it Sounds Good. But How Do I Ensure I Pick the Right Chair?

Picking the right chair is super important. And there are two ways to ensure you can interview quality, credible, and credentialed Advisory Board professionals when you're looking for an Advisory Board Chair:

1. Contact the Advisory Board Centre here at www.AdvisoryBoardCentre.com. They're the peak body for Advisory Board professionals and have a free Advisor Concierge service where they can help you map out your needs and priorities and enable introductions to a range of Chairs, or

2. You can reach out directly to the ScaleHQ team. Our Chairs are certified as best-practice Chairs by the Advisory Board Centre. We're experienced CEOs, we've been through what you're going through and know how to help. In fact.. our Founder Sean has been recognised as a Fellow at the Advisory Board Centre and is also a member of their Faculty.

You can find information about our Advisory Board services here, or you can complete your Growth Score here where we offer a free debrief and discovery call after you've done the survey and received your Growth SScore report. That will help us help you to understand your needs and growth priorities.

But then How Do I Find the Right Advisors to Sit on the Advisory Board?

Your Chair will help identify Advisor skills you might need, during the Board Starter Program in the first few meetings. Then the Advisory Board Centre and your Chair can help generate Advisor applications to meet the brief. 

You’ll interview Advisors, and your Chair will co-interview your final choices (if you'd like that support). You will appoint and negotiate rates with Advisors directly, as they work for you, as does your Chair.

I'd Like to Know More... Where to From Here?

If you'd like more information about ScaleHQ Advisory Boards, click here.

If you'd like to get a free 9-page Growth Score report to identify your growth needs and constraints, click here.

If you'd like to hear the perspectives of ScaleHQ clients who we've mentored and facilitated Advisory Boards for, click here.