Peer Groups: Finding and Growing Your Business Community

Community. We all live in multiple communities based on our families, where we live, where we have our social lives and — in the case of privately-held companies — how we choose to define, organize and run our business.???????

However, consider the informal community that naturally evolves between you and your customers, or between you and the business peers who interact occasionally over the course of a calendar year. It’s pleasant, it’s valuable, but there’s a world of difference between that community and an established group of business peers who through regular meetings share your challenges, your aspirations and your experiences.

Call them forums — that’s the term used by YPO (Young Presidents Organization) — or affinity groups — the University of Toledo Family Business Center’s term. Either way, they’re recognized by touchstone authorities like Forbes Coaches Council as places where you can:

? broaden your leadership skills;

? avoid business missteps and tunnel vision;

? stay proactive rather than reactive;

? tap into an opportunity gateway, as well as a place to forge lifelong friendships.

We asked local business owners about where they find their business community. Jess Saylor Jr., President of the Delventhal Company, speaks for many when he says, “It has to be a group of people that share life experiences together and that get along enough to be able to spend quality time together.?Ideally this group also has a diverse business background and is willing to share not only shared experiences but new ideas and innovations to help everyone in the group.”

He adds, “I think it’s important to have people that are in the same or a very similar role in their professional careers. Certainly some diversity of roles is nice to allow people to learn and grow, but in a setting like an affinity group or YPO forum it is very difficult to share ideas and experiences if there is a huge gap in responsibility and position within the group.”?

The uniquely level playing field of peer groups makes this kind of sharing possible. Forbes notes, “Maintaining a sense that everyone there is on the same plane is essential, so if you find yourself in a group where it's clear you are the senior member or the standout expert, you need to find a new group where you’ll be challenged. If you’re not, you’re mentoring others and not gaining for your business, too. A balance of both is ideal.”

Remarkably, such benefits aren’t dependent on global reach; members can find what they need in local peer groups as well. YPO maintains 14 global regions while the UT Family Business Center has a regional focus. Both can point to impressive success in fostering effective communities among their members.??

Perhaps the most critical aspect of peer groups is how they give members the power to both give and receive: groups foster the willingness to give and accept honest, valuable counsel. That power extends into the wider community more readily the more often you tap into that power. In effect, peer groups can turn business owners into business leaders, then into community leaders.

Michael Deaton, President of Laibe Electric/Technology, reflects this phenomenon when he says, “My role in the business community is to help others and learn from other leaders.” Two of the organizations he cites as his business community are UT affinity groups and YPO forums: “UT Affinity Group is business and learning from others within our community. YPO is business but also personal growth.”

After all, if “No man is an island,” then no business is one, either. Peer groups are well-planned, powerful flotillas that allow neighboring islands to reach each other easily, regularly and effectively.

Getting on board is easy, especially given the complementary and mutually supportive relationship between the UT Family Business Center (open to all family business members) and YPO (open to organization presidents, CEOs or equivalent role/title). Through its multiple professional development programs to advance local business leaders, the Center can prepare company presidents to join YPO. Interested? More information is at your fingertips: contact Angie Jones (Family Business Center) at [email protected] or Ryan Odendahl (YPO) at [email protected]

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