Boost your board room for success in 2023

SMEs must boost their board rooms and take a collaborative approach to leadership if they wish to achieve business success in 2023, says Ed Reid, MD of Leeds based The Alternative Board (TAB) UK.

A less formal approach to business has become the norm post pandemic with many professionals happier than ever before to share the reality of their working lives on social media. Now Ed is encouraging business leaders to take this uninhibited approach to the next level by stepping outside their workplaces and utilising the diversity and expertise of peers on t heir doorsteps.

Over 2,000 UK companies have already signed up to the unrestrained approach and are supercharging their existing board rooms through participating in regular peer board gatherings organised by TAB. These allow business owners, in communities across the UK, to share commercial concerns and ambitions with local peers in a trusted space, working together to real ise ambitions

Participating companies are reaping the advantages of opening their businesses up to this level of external input, with 80 per cent of TAB members reporting revenue growth since joining. It’s an approach Ed believes could help more companies overcome tough economic conditi ons this year:

“SMEs will all have challenges to overcome in 2023 and it can be incredibly lonely facing those alone and having to justify big decisions to your stakeholders or employees. What I have witnessed over the past year and, what is making incredible difference to our SME community, is sharing those commercial issues and working together on solutions. It is almost impossible to step back from your own business and identify where change needs to happen so taking advice from professional peers who have their own business expertise can be transformational.

“By embracing our entrepreneurial spirit across the UK and working together to support one another, business owners can ensure they make the right decisions. Business advisory bo ards offer the perfect forum for this, enabling members to share commercial and even personal challenges with business owners from an array of industries. This enables them to set achievable goals for the year ahead and be accountable to their peers through regularly sched uled meetings.”