Hopefully, most people understand what we do as business coaches, and if they attended one of our board meetings, they would have a good sense of the flow, purpose and benefits of a TAB Peer Advisory Board. What many do not know is about the third leg of our value proposition: a deep repository of intellectual property, case studies and our business tool set. One of our most valuable tools for TAB Members is an increasingly robust portal called the Business Builder’s Blueprint (BBB).
In short, the BBB is a site for our Members and selected teammates to document their path to success. The BBB provides a space to identify and record where Members and their businesses are, explore where they want to be, and to plan and implement the path to close that gap.
I briefly describe some of the functions of BBB below and some of the questions it has participants work through.
Where do you want to be?
- What is your personal vision of success? We own our businesses because we believe we’ll have more flexibility (time and money) to do what we want. But it’s important to have a vision of success in our non-working time, so we can capitalize on what should be our business as a performing asset.
- What is your business vision? Here, you can articulate the vision for your business and your role in it, which drives your ability to achieve your personal vision. If you are over-worked doing things you don’t enjoy, you are not the best at that set of activities, and/or your business does not need you to do it, stop! This activity helps to crystalize your vision of success for the business.
Where are you?
- Business diagnostic. This is an alignment vehicle for the management team and a means of prioritizing what needs your focus. What business functions or processes are the most critical and which have the greatest opportunity to improve your business? If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. And if it is not important, why worry about it?
- Your strategic advantage. What are the elements of what you provide that are distinctly different from your competition? How do you deliver that information in a compelling way?
- Your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This is another way to assess your current situation. It is a means for you and your management team to align on those things that require your focus.
- Your company’s values. Since your employees’ behavior is driven by their beliefs, this enables you to drill down on your company’s critical beliefs to create the culture you want.
- Accountability. This is a way to determine the reporting structure of your organization, and who is accountable for what functions. It is also where the ability for employees to access or edit portions of the Business Builder’s Blueprint is established.
- The Year End Sequence. This is the place to track progress. How did you perform last year and what are the areas you want to see changed in the coming year?
How will you get there?
- Your Strategic Plan. This is where we determine what is critical for success in the next year based on the information we have gathered in the other sections. Here, we establish the goals, strategies and actions that will ensure we make our plans happen. We assign accountabilities, timeframes and track the status of each. This plan can then be implemented with the help of your coach and the TAB Board.
- TAB Connect. This is the newest addition to the Business Builder’s Blueprint. It enables networking with other TAB Members around the world who have relevant interests and experiences. It facilitates collaboration with your board and acts as a repository for each of your Board Members’ documents. TAB Connect helps make your Board experience the most profitable investment you can make in your business!
By Bob Dodge
