Member Article

David Whitmell on The Alternative Board

As politicians and economists continue to remind us, 2012 is set to be a very difficult one for businesses across the UK. Nonetheless, the testing climate could also present the opportunity for reflection and change to encourage optimum business performance. - which is where The Alternative Board (TAB) comes in.

Billed as the ‘business owner’s strategic advantage’, TAB brings together business owners to help them overcome challenges through the combination of diagnostic techniques. David Whitmell, managign director of TAB Newcastle has been speaking to Bdaily to explain more.

“The Alternative Board helps business owners achieve their business and personal goals, and is a combination of business diagnostics and planning, coaching sessions as well as a peer board,” he explains. “ “We get between 6 and 8 business owners together who meet each month, and the group acts like a board of non-executive directors for each other at a fraction of the cost of a single non-executive director.

“Each individual brings their biggest business issue with them to the session, and the group will discuss it to come up with ideas and advice to help the individual find a solution to the problem.”

Many chief executives will shudder at the thought of sharing their difficulties with others, but David is quick to assure me that this is rarely the case.

“Business owners come to trust each other in a very short period of time, and within 2 or 3 meetings people are really honest about what’s going on inside their company,” he continues. “We also ensure that there are no competing companies on the Board and no key customer-supplier relationships, so that our members feel completely comfortable to open up about their company issues, and therefore they receive the advice they need.

Business owners come to TAB for a vast range of reasons.But whether it be for advice, moral support or just a confirmation they are doing the right thing, the TAB community can be a real source of comfort for SME owners.

“It can be lonely running your own company, and a lot of business owners would feel the benefit of having someone supporting them,” explains David. “The sweet spot is businesses with around 5-50 employees, because serious growth pains tend to appear for companies within this bracket.

“They are facing customer problems, supplier problems, cash flow problems and employee problems - and that’s when it gets a bit too much for the business owner and they need external support.

“We try to stratify members into businesses of broadly similar sizes, as we find that they often have similar issues.

David believes that the combination of business tools, coaching and a peer board can have an impact on business performance greater than the sum of the parts. Indeed, research from the US, where TAB was established, showed that members have a higher survival and growth rate than non-members.

“Each part builds on each other, and in combination they can be a huge catalyst for change. We hold business owners accountable for their commitments to the Board, so if they promise to do something we will make sure that they do it, in order to achieve progress they need,” David adds.

“In this way, we can help them achieve business and personal success whether we are in recession or in boom.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .