Why Your Private Equity Portfolio Needs a Peer Advisory Council

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A dedicated peer advisory council, which would be an effective growth strategy change agent for your portfolio, is a diverse, yet like-minded, group of executives who value learning and the exchange of ideas, information, wisdom, and solutions. Cross-pollination is an important component, so ensuring that members come from different industries, play different roles, and have different backgrounds is important. A monthly peer advisory discussion for your management team members makes sense; consider offering them the opportunity to form their own peer advisory council run by a professional moderator, as Strategic Growth Council offers. In a disciplined, dedicated, and intentional fashion, we ensure continuous member growth and development. More specifically, our groups serve as a mechanism to enable your management team members to solve problems and test hypotheses efficiently in a confidential, non-competitive environment. The result is a community of peers, who eventually become like family – a tribe of trusted confidantes.

Specifically, what are the benefits for your portfolio, and what are the benefits for your fund as a whole?

For your portfolio:

  1. Increase the speed of success – The top concern that business leaders express about joining a group is time commitment. Counterintuitively, those same executives eventually report that the single greatest benefit of being in a group is the ability to “save time” by solving business dilemmas more efficiently. Portfolio companies will make better growth decisions, faster, as a result of being in the Peer Advisory Council.
  2. Have an actionable impact – Members solve “cases” efficiently and more effectively than they would on their own because of the variety of inputs and the process we utilize to solve the cases. Each month, members focus strategically “on” their businesses, rather than working myopically “in” their businesses. An intentional opportunity to focus on the big picture goals and strategies of the business improves executional effectiveness.
  3. Dedicate time for leaders to focus ON their businesses, not IN the businesses. From a strategic growth mindset and brainstorming standpoint, your C-Level Executives may need your support with time set aside for dedicated, intentional, focused work on growth strategy.
    “…the single greatest benefit of being in a group is the ability to ‘save time’ by solving business dilemmas more efficiently.
  4. Empower your human capital – to improve recruiting, retention and motivation, learnings and best practices, case studies, policies and procedures, and general insights-sharing. Enable them to gain expert educational insights (best practices) on a regular basis, on subjects that matter.
  5. Enhance personal and professional growth – Collaboration, esprit de corps, teamwork, and mutual support for leaders across the portfolio.
  6. Facilitate communication among portfolio companies for fresh perspective, insights and feedback. You can help your portfolio companies, not simply by providing your mix of professional services, but also by enabling them to come together formally and informally, as a dedicated, intentional support network for one another. They will be reminded of sound business practices and learn new ones from one another. They ask probing questions and then provide each other unbiased, unvarnished, candid advice. Management teams establish meaningful connections – with peer C-level executives from within your portfolio.
  7. Intentional process, dedicated to mutual successes. A proven process is the critical ingredient in enabling a Peer Advisory Council to function effectively from the start, and to scale across your client base, and to ensure satisfaction and success.
  8. Hold management teams accountable and provide feedback on a regular basis. We hold our member companies accountable for goals and objectives. In collaboration with you, we will work to hold your companies accountable to strategic planning objectives, tasks and tactics, and follow through on solved “cases.” We also provide Quarterly Achievement Planning sessions.
  9. Learn from outside speakers – Education, learning, best practices, case studies – all can be a distinct part of the monthly agendas. Members will learn best practices and discover resources they were unaware of previously.
  10. Intangibles – Members will reduce their stress levels and enhance their positive mindset by gaining fresh perspective, insight, and wisdom. Members are not judged or criticized; it is a safe haven; and meetings take place under strict adherence to a confidentiality policy.

    In addition to benefitting the portfolio, peer advisory councils would be helpful for your private equity group.

“…the single greatest benefit of being in a group is the ability to ‘save time’ by solving business dilemmas more efficiently.

Benefits to your Private Equity Fund.

  1. Gain insights about management team members’ needs – delivered in an organized, synthesized manner. You will improve your understanding of the needs of the management teams — managers have experience and skills in areas that others do not – and this is a Good thing!
  2. Achieve easily facilitated proactive, preventative maintenance on a continuous basis. Follow-through on known shortcomings, challenges or weaknesses — Tie in, amplify, and maintain ongoing follow-through on your growth strategy and value creation work.
  3. Weigh in formally and informally with dedicated time and attention from the portfolio members of the group. In addition to listening and learning from your portfolio companies, you will have opportunities to speak, as well, both formally and informally. At the start of each meeting, you may socialize with management team members as they join the virtual discussion. And each month, 20-to-40 minutes is allocated to education – which can be third-party lessons learned, best practices, or your own insights and words of wisdom shared with a captive and interested audience. For example, Operating Partners can showcase their expertise with the groups by leading discussions or briefly presenting a topic of interest to educate the group before the meeting.
  4. Ensure accountability and receive performance insights about your companies – in ways you may never have experienced.
  5. Gain insights about their needs and interests as relate to interactions with you. Feedback on your PEG from the portfolio perspective.
  6. Branding and Business Development – Differentiate your firm from the thousands of others by explaining to acquisition targets that you support management in ways others do not.
  7. Optional — Coordination of the Annual Event
  8. Optional – Strategic Planning Facilitation — Achieve much higher levels of formal strategic growth planning follow-through and implementation. In collaboration with you, we can work in group settings and also facilitate formal one-on-one strategic growth planning and work to hold your companies accountable to strategic planning objectives, tasks and tactics on an ongoing basis.
“Achieve easily facilitated proactive, preventative maintenance on a continuous basis.

A White Label Model and a Simple 3-Step Process

Under a white label service agreement, the moderator acts as a member of your team, and the brand relationship that your companies maintain is with your PEG. Our simple Three-step Process involves the following:

 

  1. A Simple Conversation: Schedule a discovery call in which we will ask about challenges and opportunities your firm faces, goals of a peer advisory council program for your portfolio,  measures of success, benefits, and next steps.
  2. The Development of the Peer Councils for your management teams: We will want to ensure cross-pollination and so we will carefully select members of your groups by industry, role, experience and even personality.  We will work with you and your managers to develop an effective agenda. We run the groups on your behalf, serving as moderator of the discussions.
  3. The Feedback Loop for Your Fund: Portfolio Company accomplishments, status updates, unmet needs, wants and wishes, requests for input and advice, suggestions for changes within your fund,  feedback on the peer advisory council and potential pivots given their inputs, lessons learned.
“The most effective portfolio company experience in terms of return on investment for companies and the fund, may be the Peer Advisory Council concept.

Summary

Private Equity Groups should offer peer advisory councils for their portfolio companies. We help you do what you do best — concentrate on running your fund – while offering your companies an ongoing and impactful experience – with one goal — Growth. The benefits to your management teams, and for your fund, are substantial. 

Strategic Growth Council (CEO Peer Groups – Strategic Growth Council) is intentional and focused, dedicated to solving business problems, and ideating on opportunities. We do this in two ways:

  1. Peer Advisory Councils
  2. Strategic Planning Facilitation

Strategic Growth Council is a LXCouncil Certified License Partner. To learn more, call 703.867.7269, text the same number or email kit@strategicgrowthcouncil.com.

Or schedule a meeting here:
Book Christopher “Kit” Lisle

 
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