The Power of Peers

Being involved with peers has a tremendous impact in growing your business and driving growth and success.

We engage other companies in the channel.

The first step in getting value out of peer groups is to start. So often I hear of people who express interest, and yet, few people actually do something with that interest, even as simple as going to the website to fill out the short application for RLO Training: http://rlotraining.net/contact/. The world is run by people who actually show up and do something with their ideas. Those are the successful business owners. That is one of the key values of peers – you get engaged and are continually pushed to not only continue but raise the level of engagement.

We share and give openly.

Peer groups are based on giving to others as well as yourself. It is not about me, but about the others in my group and sharing what I have with them. The more I invest in and share with others – the more I will recieve as part of the experience. It is not about what you can take, it is about what you can give. And those that give the most will ultimately win.

We ask for help when we need it.

There is a very common misconception among many business owners – that asking for help is a sign of weakness and should never be done. Nothing could be further from the truth. The more mature a business becomes, the more that leadership team realizes that they don’t have all the answers and it is much faster to learn from someone who has figured it out or been there and done that than have to make each mistake or learn everything on their own. Asking for help and learning from peers is a sign of maturity rather than weakness. So often business owners get into the “can’t see the forest for the trees” situation. They are so close to the problem and have experienced it for so long they can’t see it clearly enough to determine a new course of action. Bringing in some fresh eyes with a different perspective can often take a problem that has plagued a business for many years, and provide a solution very quickly. But the key is, you have to ask.

We share our financials openly.

There are a variety of thoughts around the sharing of financials and open book accounting – but for peers to make a difference they have to have transparency and access to the real information. That means sharing your numbers. If they are good, they are something to be learned from. If they are bad, they provide important information that can help turn things around. But without them, little can be done to effectively make a difference in a company. At RLO Training, we use our composite books to help us report and evaluate our financials. It is a critical tool in our program to help us evaluate our status.

We plan together around business and life.

Part of the process of planning needs to include having others review and comment on the roadmap you have laid out. We recommend focusing on four plans – business, leadership, life, and legacy. But the key is to use peers to evaluate the direction and destination you are heading and make sure it aligns with your stated objectives. You also want feedback on whether the steps you have identified as your action plan and strategies will actually get you there. Without solid planning, you can end up somewhere other than where you intended to go.

We execute together.

Execution is the achilles heal for most of us as small business owners. It is not that we don’t know what to do, we simply choose not to do it. Having a set of peers that will help drive you toward execution is critical. One of the main goals of RLO Training’s Bottom Line Impact Groups is driving business and personal growth through execution. We know that by helping our members execute – we will help them move toward success.

We are accountable.

Accountability is one of the misunderstood concepts in business today. It is not a matter of sitting back and waiting for someone to fail to achieve their goals so you can whack them upside the head and tell them to try harder. True accountability is when peers take each other’s goals on as their own, and when there is a struggle, they come alongside and help make sure each person achieves the goals that have been set forth. That is the reality of what true accountabilty is. I am vested in and committed to helping others achieve success. When we do that – everyone wins.

There is no question that there is significant power in peers. It requires a deep commitment and a focus on others rather than self, but once that step is made and a person begins to invest in someone else, the good things begin and continue to make an impact for many years to come.

Do you understand the value of peers? If you are looking to be involved in a life changing program, fill out the application and get involved today. Just remember that nothing changes until you actually do something. Just thinking about it doesn’t count!