Would you run a mile at the thought of holding regular Board Meetings with a Board of Directors, cringe at the thought of being accountable to a group of people about your business, gasp at someone else having an opinion about your business …let’s pause right there!

The results of your business are limited to the ideas of the people who give input to your business.  Who is currently giving you the strategic direction and clarity that you need to make your business the best business that it can be?

Consider this:

Your Board of Directors can be as simple as the owners of your business, along with your strategic advisor (with many of our clients Sullivan Dewing), meeting once a month to strategically review the financial performance for the month and discuss other issues, for example:

• Should the business expand interstate
• Should the business open a second outlet
• How to reward key team members
• How to create different product streams
• Analysing different products or jobs to ensure they are profitable
• Moving business premise or buying a business premise
• Analysing sales results by state, customer and product group

It’s important to note that external members of the board are quite often impartial, unemotional & give clarity as well as strategic direction.  They are not concerned or bogged down with the day to day running of your business.

Once the process is systemised and everyone attends regularly it becomes a habit to review the business strategically and discuss key challenges facing the business.

To show you how it works:

We began working with a local family business that had never held regular business meetings.

To start, an Annual Profit Plan was set so that the business owners and the board knew the profit the business needed to make for the year.  Alongside this, a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) monitoring system was put into place. Monthly Board meetings were structured with the board including family shareholders, key employees & Sullivan Dewing as the external advisors.

Each month, the internal accountant prepared the necessary reports to present to the board.  A standing agenda ensured that all items were covered at each board meeting, and an efficient meeting was run.

After initially setting a stretch profit target & making sure at the monthly board meetings that there was a strategic focus on gross margin and profits, the business owners have enjoyed their best year ever.

In the words of the business owner: “The key benefits gained from running a board meeting with external advisors are strategic direction, clarity of purpose and attention to detail.”

If you’d like to know more about using a Board of Directors to benefit your business, contact Jeni Wilcock at jeni@sullivandewing.com.au.