‘The usual’ works for business owners in normal times—but today demands something different.

Not so long ago, I reached the quarter century mark in my career coaching CEOs and owners of small and mid-sized businesses. One thing I noticed in that time—people change mostly when they must.

When the economy is growing steadily, the answers seem clear. Smart business leaders will typically realize positive outcomes without shaking things up too much. During those heydays, senior executives are less likely to seek outside resources, such as peer advisory groups, because their success is telling them they just don’t need the help.

Today’s dynamic is different. The pandemic transformed the workplace, labor markets, supply chains, you name it. Whether your business was among those rewarded by this economic environment or punished by it, the way forward may not be as obvious as it was a few years ago.

Indeed, these times are the craziest I’ve ever witnessed. I worked in finance during the 1980s and saw executives through the Great Recession. Even if we put Covid entirely behind us in 2022, ‘business as usual’ is over.

The question is, what do we do now?

Get Out of Your Ordinary, Join a Peer Group

My own inclinations don’t lead toward the ordinary, as my shaggy dog career demonstrates. I started out in telecommunications, made a rather blind leap to Wall Street, then struck out on my own consulting only to wend my way toward coaching and Vistage peer advisory groups.

As a Vistage Chair I facilitate CEO peer groups and provide mentoring, consulting and coaching.  Some of the Vistage members I work with have also zigzagged through their professions, while many others have enjoyed a more straightforward path. We get a lot from bringing these and other differences together.

In fact, diversity is the key ingredient of a great peer advisory group, IMHO. We must be likeminded as far as our commitment to supporting each other, but from there, difference rules.

Why Diversity in Peer Groups Matters

For one thing, members of a peer advisory group must come from different industries. Because the businesses don’t compete, we can talk about tough issues without holding back. We can also benefit from ideas and knowledge emerging from sectors we wouldn’t have thought applicable.

A solution that might be obvious to a tech entrepreneur, for instance, could transform a manufacturing firm, while a manufacturer’s expertise driving process efficiencies might make all the difference to the tech company.

Diversity in Peer Groups Goes Beyond Industry Specialty

We need more than industry diversity, however. My groups need women who don’t want to be limited to women-only business organizations. We need extroverts and introverts, the funny and the straitlaced, the confident and the not-so-much. We are looking for people of various backgrounds, talents, life experience, and personalities, basically any CEO or business leader who is willing to get a little outrageous.

That’s what I love about my peer groups—members arrive at each meeting with no preconceived notion of what will happen. Whatever comes up, they deal with it. Whatever is said, they go with it. The new, the challenging, the ‘obviously wrong’ suggestion that could be worth a second thought—they love it.

From my point of view, that’s why these business owners and executives are thriving professionally and personally right now. Sure, it’s been hard sometimes, but they’ve found a small group of people to help them get out of their ordinary so they can better adapt and innovate. They have a set of peers who give them the confidence to move when others are standing still.

Implement Change at Your Own Pace

What opportunity are you not pursuing? What solution have you been unwilling to try? What to you would be a little bit ‘outrageous’?

Don’t let the word outrageous intimidate you. I’m not recommending the business equivalent of a bungie jump. What would it be worth if you could verify your thinking on a topic with some experienced executives? What if they could help you improve on your plan? What if they tell you the craziest idea in your arsenal doesn’t sound so crazy to them? What might you do?

Take it from a longtime coach, all people implement change at their own pace. Peer Groups aren’t only for natural risk-takers for whom the outrageous choice may be to hold back every now and then.

Peer Groups are for anyone interested in getting out of their own head to consider possibilities that aren’t necessarily in there.

For any consultant feeling the impact of these insane times and looking for new resources, I suggest exploring joining a group of your peers. IMC USA’s Consultant Knowledge Exchange meets monthly online.

Join other professional consultants who have different backgrounds and perspectives from yours.

Check out IMC USA’s event calendar for dates and times.

What’s there to lose in one conversation?

About the Author, Jeannette Hobson CMC®

Jeannette Hobson is a CEO Peer Group Facilitator and Mentor & Business Coach to CEOs and Senior Executives. As a Vistage Group Chair, in 2008 Jeannette won the prestigious Cope Award, given annually to only one Vistage chair worldwide. In 2018, she was awarded the designation of Master Chair.  She was a member of the Vistage Chair Advisory Board and chair trainer. 

Before becoming affiliated with Vistage, Jeannette was a founding partner of Gateway Consulting Group, LLC.  GCG provided marketing strategy and technology implementation support to large organizations facing significant change in their economic model due to deregulation. GCG was started after 20 years with The Bank of New York.  

Jeannette has an Executive MBA from Columbia University.  She is a Past President of the Financial Women’s Association of NY, Past President of the Columbia Executive MBA Alumni Association, a Certified Management Consultant® (CMC®). She served on the Institute for Management Consultants CMC certification board. She currently serves on the IMC USA Board of Directors. Contact Jeannette by email at Jeannette.Hobson @ VistageChair.com or on LinkedIn.