Leadership Advisory | Business Advisory

Leadership Advisory focuses on supporting leaders rather than the organizations they serve

Why It's Needed

Leading a commercial or non-profit venture is demanding. From inception to growth to steady state, managers must constantly reinvent their organizations and themselves. They are challenged to anticipate the unforeseen and to see into their own blind spots. At the same time, they must lead their teams with self-assurnce and inspire the confidence of their board.

Meeting these demands is challenging and lonely work. Even the most collaborative teams want to be inspired, and even the most trusting boards want to feel their organization is in strong hands. Leaders are justifiably reluctant to express uncertainty or share partially completed ideas, leaving them starved for informed thinking partners with whom to collaborate.

These constraints have tangible impacts on leaders and on the organizations they serve. Leaders need a “safe space” to exchange ideas and explore issues, unencumbered by concerns about how the conversation will be received by its participants.

What It Is

Leadership Advisory is a service offering for leaders and key decision makers. It grew out of -- and complements -- the strategic and operational advisory services offered by Business Advisory Network for over 15 years.

Unlike BAN’s other offerings, which focus on serving the organization directly, Leadership Advisory is designed to support leaders as individuals. This takes the form of an ongoing conversation designed to foster mutual understanding and trust.

These conversations are confidential and are intended as a “safe space” in which to explore business, organizational and personal topics that might be inappropriate in other forums, or which would benefit from clarification before being aired to wider audiences.

How It Works

The core of Leadership Advisory is a private and confidential relationship between the leader and the advisor. This relationship begins with a brief period of information exchange, during which the advisor learns about the organization’s purpose and operations and works with the leader to identify a set of topics for ongoing discussion.

We then establish a cadence for regular check-ins. These typically total 3-6 hours per month and focus on reviewing established topics and surfacing new ones. Additional time can be made available as needed to address sudden or challenging issues.

Leadership Advisory has three primary objectives. First, it provides the leader with a safe space within which to explore ideas before airing them publicly. Second, it provides a structured framework for ongoing issue identification and tracking. Finally, it offers a stand-by resource – BAN – with the general expertise and organization-specific knowledge required to quickly offer on-demand support.