Create
Your Own Personal Board Of Directors by Joeann Fossland
Major corporations rely on their
Boards of Directors to provide
perspectives and ideas as well as
valuable contacts to powerfully enhance the company’s own resources. As
the CEO of “ Your Real Estate Practice, Inc.”, you can enhance your effectiveness
by giving up the lone ranger stance. In his classic book, “Think and Grow
Rich”, Napoleon Hill endorses a mastermind group as a way to multiply your
brain power.
“When a group of individual brains
are coordinated and function in harmony, the increased energy created through
that alliance becomes available to each individual brain in the group.”
Successful people often rely on mentors or mastermind groups to help them
in their quest for excellence! Let’s look at how you can incorporate
this concept into your business to help you make GREAT decisions.
Choosing Your Personal Board:
Start with the obvious and make a
list of categories AND of people who you respect. Invite a CPA or financial
planner, an attorney, an health professional, and any other professional
that would have some expertise in a field where you don’t. Perhaps, another
sales professional in a different field (insurance, perhaps) or an entrepreneur
who is facing some of the same out-there-alone challenges that you face.
Also, invite those who you feel would
be a mentor you could learn from. Don’t hesitate to ask someone who you
feel is very accomplished; most successful people like to share and help
others. Think of these people as your personal “inner circle”. Choose them
carefully, not just for business contacts, but people who are aligned with
values similar to yours, who will be there good times and bad, who you
can grow with over the years. Carefully consider if their style and integrity
are a fit for how you do business and live your life.
How To Use Your Board:
Make a list for yourself of what
your expectations and needs are from your Board. How do you want them to
assist you in your success? Your Board will become a rich resource for
you, if you openly and clearly communicate what your desires are. Do you
want referrals, ideas for serving your clients better, ideas for marketing
in different ways, or expertise in business areas you haven’t mastered?
Speak candidly with them and be open to their suggestions and coaching.
But remember, ultimately, each decision rests on your shoulders. While
you must be open to advice that is outside your frame of reference, you
have to
live with the decisions you make.
Carefully use the input your Board gives you to contemplate what is the
very best action for you to take. If you aren’t taking advice given, communicate
the reasons why not. Taking a deeper cut may uncover a perspective you
weren’t seeing.
Structuring The Meetings:
There is no “right” way to do this.
You may want to set up monthly, in
person meetings with everyone or
you may only want to meet a couple of times a year. You might set up a
conference call or an email list. With today’s technology, many options
are available which didn’t exist in years past, including having Board
members in other cities!
Consider your need for feedback and
the number of issues you are currently facing that could use this kind
of brain power and support.
When you invite each member, your
clarity of expectations, the structure and method of communicating should
all be addressed. What’s in it for them?
Perhaps you’ll even want to offer
compensation for their time. Can you barter or trade in some way? Will
there be mutual referrals? Or, perhaps, offering a small fee would
be the most appropriate way to approach it. Don’t overlook the value of
what they are providing and make sure they know you feel their time and
input is a precious commodity.
Your personal Board of Directors
is a step to your next level. Expand your perspectives in the coming year
and expand your relationships. In the 21st Century, relationships are the
strongest link to success in any business that involves people. Don’t be
a Lone Ranger!
Joeann Fossland, GRI, LTG is a Master
Certified Coach, national speaker, trainer, who works with highly motivated
people that want to excel in business while having a life they love. Joeann
created The Real Estate Game ™, a daily motivational accountability call
that is played in a game format for 4 weeks. She also writes a monthly
newsletter and hosts free teleconference calls. Copyright© 2002, Joeann
Fossland. All rights reserved. For information about Joeann’s presentations,
coaching and consulting services, contact the Frog Pond at 800.704.FROG(3764)
or email susie@frogpond.com; http://www.frogpond.com
Ten
Personal Boards of Directors Insight
Gary Ryan Blair
1. A personal board provides both
wisdom and support for the attainment of a specific purpose. Their objective
is to help you cross the chasm from the known to the unknown.
2. Consider the roles each
person on your board will play. Consider having an entrepreneur along with
a clarifier who asks clear questions, a connector who leads you to other
people, a challenger who helps you act boldly, and a wise elder or sage.
You want to draw upon the wisdom of people with diverse perspectives who
think differently than you do.
3. By forming a personal board, you
now have the ability to tap into wisdom and experience that you normally
would not have access to as well as developing a support network.
4. A diverse board of directors
can, will and should pose the big, often-difficult questions that need
to be asked.
5. Often in making big decisions,
not enough options are considered. A Personal Board of Directors will help
you to see the bigger picture. This is called "intellectual bench strength".
6. A personal board will accelerate
your learning curve and it will help you take some of the fear out of making
difficult decisions.
7. Your relationship with your personal
board is all about "win-win", so you must be willing to give as much as
you receive. Consider ways to add value to their lives and their work.
8. Gaining and maintaining a trusted
Personal Board of Directors will keep you from the unnecessary and avoidable
"cliffs and canyons." However, selecting the right people to sit on your
personal board of directors can be fraught with peril. Think through and
develop "attribute profiles" for the people you need on your personal board.
9. The most effective board
will be a group of people who bring a breadth of skills, experience and
diversity to your life. Ideally, members of the board should have backgrounds
and contacts that differ from--but complement--your background and that
of the other directors. As you grow and change, the governing board also
will evolve to meet changing needs and circumstances.
10. Take your promising ideas
to people you trust and let them help you with perspective, talent, money,
etc. Welcome prompt observations and detailed evaluations of your plans.
You create a personal board for their vision and experience. Your purpose
must be to have them help you remove or manage as many unnecessary barriers
that exist. In addition to shortening your learning curve, it provides
an additional level of accountability.
Gary Ryan Blair is President
of The GoalsGuy. A visionary and
gifted conceptual thinker, Gary is highly regarded as a speaker, consultant,
strategic planner, and coach to leading companies throughout the globe.
Visit The GoalsGuy
Shop for all of your goal setting and life planning needs.
