Find the right business mentor, because the most valuable asset any business has is its people. Leaders and team members drive growth, execute plans, and turn ideas into real value. To make your business bigger than one person, you need insights from more than one person. Mentors, peers, and succession planning can help you lead effectively and prepare your business for the future. The challenge is knowing where to find the right people and what to ask them.
Finding the Right Mentor
Before you settle on a mentor, speak with your internal team for intel into how they see the business (your staff can often cover your blind spots), then choose a coach who has the relevant experience. Some will come with a proven track record in strategy, while others will be hyper-focused on team management or culture. A fit-for-purpose coach is worth their weight in ROI.
Your relationship with your mentor will be both strategic and emotional, so it’s important to prioritise both concrete results and mutual chemistry when selecting your coach. Their impact on your business will be a direct reflection of their impact on you, so find someone who explains things in a way you both understand and actively engage with.
Finally, make sure you do your homework. Communication and branding can be useful tools, but someone who only specialises in marketing themselves as a great mentor may not be the right expert for your business. Like with any other investment, do your due diligence. Read reviews from other mentees or clients and ask for specific examples of how a mentor’s advice led to positive outcomes in a business similar to yours.
The Perks of Professional Peers
Being a business owner can be lonely, especially if your network is largely made up of people within your own organisation. There are challenges unique to your position, and facing them alone can feel isolating and directionless, or leave you in an echo chamber with only confirmation bias for company.
Peer advisory groups offer a structured source of advice and support for business owners and C-suite professionals. Organisations such as the CEO Institute, Vistage and the Young Presidents’ Organisation (YPO) are perfect environments for bouncing ideas off other entrepreneurial thinkers and problem-solving with peers who’ve likely been there and done that in their own businesses. For Perth-based business owners in particular, joining a peer advisory group or engaging a business mentor can be one of the highest-leverage decisions you make outside the day-to-day of running the business.
People within your organisation may look to you to guide strategies and discussions, but fellow leaders will challenge your ideas and encourage you to follow your curiosity. You may be the one making decisions for your business, but broadening the scope of your conversations lets your ideas, and the business they’re shaping, grow beyond you.
Raise Your Growth Ceiling with a Succession Plan
Planning for your business’s future beyond your leadership does not mean you’re checking out early. By building a succession plan into the foundations of your strategy, you’re committing to the business’s long-term potential and respecting the loyalty of your customers, staff and stakeholders. It’s risk mitigation meets futureproofing.
If your staff are focused entirely on executing your ideas, all the innovation and creativity moving through the business will be bottlenecked by the need to follow your lead. A succession plan isn’t a break-glass-in-case-of-retirement backup. It’s a precedent you can set on day one to create room for long-term thinking and conversations about what the business could be capable of.
Your stakeholders will also appreciate knowing the security of their investment isn’t tied to one person. Nothing signals futureproof value like a leader looking at their company with the same long-term vision as an investor. Making it clear that your business will live beyond your leadership lets partners and stakeholders build more confident long-term relationships, helping the business grow for years to come. For a closer look at what this involves, see our guide to business succession planning.
Remember, It’s Still Your Business
You know your business better than anyone. Wisdom and guidance from peers and professionals can be powerful tools, but the best coaches will recognise your insights and help you turn ideas into actionable growth strategies. Whether it’s a formal business mentor or an informal peer network, the value comes from being willing to ask for outside perspective.
We help business owners and busy executives across Perth make confident, well-informed decisions about the future of their businesses. To take the next step in preparing your business for bigger and better things, get in touch with our team, or learn more about how our business owner specialists can support you.
If you’re weighing up how mentoring fits alongside the bigger financial picture, our related guide on financial planning for business owners is a good next read.
This article contains general information only and does not constitute personal financial advice. Your circumstances are unique. Speak to a qualified adviser before making financial decisions.
