Setting up an advisory board for your franchise

last updated 12/02/2020

February 2020 - 6 key benefits of establishing an advisory board, plus details of a half-day seminar for franchisors

How could an advisory board improve the performance of your franchise? Find out at this seminar

Moving into a new year merits fresh thinking around direction, focus and goals, says the award-winning team at Franchise Accountants. What does the future look like? Is it time to revisit how you run your franchise network by elevating how you govern your business?

Here are some thoughts on improving franchise performance by improving governance. There’s also news of a half-day workshop that Franchise Accountants is running on the topic, with a special offer for Franchise New Zealand readers.

What is an advisory board?

An advisory board is a middle ground between operating as sole owner/CEO of a business and having a full-blown board of directors in place. It operates in a supportive capacity to business owner and operates in a simplified practical format

When set up and operating correctly, an advisory board can deliver the following benefits:

1. Invest in you the business owner

No man is an island, yet many business owners operate in isolation. We all need support structures around us. We seek doctors’ advice for our medical needs, physio for sports injuries, personal trainers for fitness, etc, but who do business owners talk to as a sounding board? An advisory board can provides independent perspectives from a position of knowledge.

2. Reducing risk

Improving business performance and resilience requires intentional focus. While some business owners network informally with peers to pick their brains over a beer, elevating your governance means shifting from “Beers to a Board”. Advisory boards can provide a focused structured meeting with intentional outcomes. They have structure and guidelines for how they operate.

3. Successful succession planning

Stepping back from the helm and appointing a successor or general manager would benefit from counsel of a well-functioning advisory board. It provides a forum where a professional manager is supported, given guidance and can be held accountable for decisions.

4. You keep control

Advisory boards guide, director boards decide. This is an important distinction. With advisory boards, you the owner, make the decisions and appointments after consultation. This is different from a board of directors, which has fiduciary and legal requirements and makes binding decisions by majority vote.

5. Improved decision-making

Two heads are better than one. Business owners need a sounding board and accountability for the strategies and direction of the business. Having these challenged and refined can often lead to better decisions and outcomes. ‘Gut feel’ leadership is a very common compass for business leaders. An advisory board can challenge things around timing and execution, and lead to improved implementation.

6. Create competitive advantage

Elite sports players and teams have support teams around them; in the same way, your advisory board can create a competitive advantage through using its mix of skills, expertise and experience to find and develop those competitive levers which position your business to be market leaders not followers. Your advisors also have other networks your business can benefit from.

Half Day Workshop

Learn more about how advisory boards operate and how to set up a successful advisory board at this half-day seminar run by the Franchise Accountants team.

Introduction to Advisory Boards