Advisory Boards Programme – Onboarding information
Our advisory boards have been running in England since September 2019. Through the programme, experienced people from leading firms contribute to the success of smaller businesses, whilst also learning a lot themselves.
Through a series of short and informative videos, we’ve tried to capture some of the thoughts of past participants to give you a flavour of what to expect from your advisory board experience.
Welcome from Anthony Impey
Be the Business CEO Anthony Impey explains why the organisation was set up and the ways in which it is trying to tackle the UK’s productivity challenge through its Advisory Boards programme.
Why we signed up
We asked some of our first cohort of advisory board participants to tell us what inspired them to join a board and what they had hoped to get out of the experience.
Finding help as a small business
Running your own business can be lonely. We often hear from business leaders that they value a sounding board, but here’s some of our businesses explaining why they got involved.
Setting up an advisory board
Like any high-performing team, boards benefit from diversity. Our Be the Business programme lead, Sheena McDermott, talks through the process of building an Advisory board.
Coordinating board meetings
Time for some practicalities. One of our project coordinators talk about how the meetings are scheduled and what will be needed from you.
The first meeting – expectations and reality
Our first cohort weren’t sure what to expect from the board meetings. Board members and SME participants explain how expectations matched up to reality.
What I've gained from Advisory Boards programme
Looking back on their experience, board members and SME participants reflect on what they got out of taking part – from tangible business improvements to skills enhancements.
Downloadable documents
For some of our small businesses, the advisory board programme is their first experience of formal governance. So we've created some helpful documents to direct meetings and keep track of actions.
Board member bio form
Our businesses always want to know who will be on their board and what the motivation to get involved is.
Non-disclosure agreement
Information that has never been shared outside the business before will be discussed, so confidentiality has to be guaranteed.
Sample MD's report
We use this simple report template to document what the business you'll be advising plans to talk through.
Sample agenda
Each advisory board meeting follows a standard format – though timings can be flexed if necessary.
Minutes/actions template
Our minute takers will capture notes and actions in this template and then circulate them after the session.