Every leader stands to benefit from the opportunity to meet monthly in a professionally facilitated session with about a dozen non-competitive peers who are in similar roles, in similar organizations, and at a similar stage of evolution.
Leaders who make the one decision to join, as long as they show up, prepare, pay attention, andparticipate, get six distinct benefits that are hard to achieve any other way:
- Leaders can be genuinely open to input and be vulnerable, even wrong, in front of each other; no need to put on airs or skirt around the hard stuff.
- Peers really know and understand each other, personally and professionally, and the challenges each faces in meeting associated goals; loneliness and depression are less common among participants.
- Odds goals are met go up as the group holds each other accountable for acting in ways that are in-sync with stated goals. When a peer acts out-of-sync, peers challenge each other in constructive ways.
- Individual learning is accelerated when any member shares with the group a new experience.
- Celebration of each other’s’ successes and commiseration on failures is surprisingly comforting.
- The collective impact of every member offering peers unfettered access to their network of resources (people, money, partners, clients, training, knowledge, methods, practices, etc.) is invaluable.
Facilitation
Professional facilitation is mandatory. Self-facilitation varies based on how much effort session leaders are able to put into preparation and how much training and experience in group facilitation each leader has had. Meeting without any facilitator may work for a session or two but will eventually devolve into nothing more than a monthly coffee, lunch, or drinks with the gang.
Caution
CEO group participants also need to stay sharp. When you ask for advice, you will get it. The issue is quality and fit. Each peer speaks from a different context and Mandate. What worked there may not work here. Treat input as data, not instruction. Test it against your strategy before you act. Let the buyer beware.
The time, training, and drive required to :
- Plan agendas
- Work out schedules
- Arrange logistics
- Find and attract quality content to share with the group
- Recruit, on-board, and develop members
- Ensure everyone participates and benefits
far exceeds the capacity of just about anyone with a full time day-job let alone a Chief Executive!
See this slide presentation of lessons learned and practices that lead to improved performance and growth thanks to Peer Group affiliation.
SEE ALSO
- How Leaders Can Use Accountability Boards and Subject Matter Experts to Help Their Organization Perform and Grow.
- The GET HELP section of Manage to Lead: Seven Truths to Help You Change the World.
- Radio interview on the value of CEO Peer Groups.
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Peter DiGiammarino is a professional CEO, professor, and author with 30+ years of success leading public, private, private-equity-owned, and venture-capital-backed software and services firms. He helps leaders, top teams, and organizations achieve their full potential to perform and grow in the name of IntelliVen.
