TIGER Talk Recap: The Power of Peers

Written by Innovate New Albany@InnovateNA5 years ago

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New business owners may sometimes feel like they don’t know what they are doing, that they are winging it, or that they aren’t sure how to handle certain situations. They may feel like they are bad business owners because they don’t have all the answers.

When you start working with peers, you will realize that having those doubts and questions actually makes you a good business owner. You’ll also realize that other business owners have the same questions! Groups such as the Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) offer a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to gain peer support through vulnerability, authenticity, and transparency.

Bill Troy, president of EO Columbus and CEO of Civilis Marketing and TroyResearch, led a TIGER Talk panel discussion at Innovate New Albany on November 16 called, “The Power of Peers.” Joining him as panelists were EO members Dr. Carol Clinton, owner of Timeless Skin Solutions; Jason Pohl, founding partner of Centric Consulting; Miranda Boyle, owner of THREAD; and Rex Elliott, owner and partner at Cooper & Elliott.

Bill explained the communication protocol of EO’s peer-to-peer groups, and he said it begins with an ironclad rule of confidentiality. Members of the peer groups understand that issues discussed will never be repeated again. This allows the group members to be honest and vulnerable.

EO peer-to-peer groups follow the Gestalt protocol, meaning they only share what they really experienced, and they refrain from giving advice. Hearing about someone else’s experience is far more powerful because you get reality and truth from the solutions they tried, and you learn about how those solutions succeeded or failed.

The peer-to-peer model focuses on one entrepreneur’s issue at a time and has three steps:

Step 1: Issues presentation.

Focusing on the entrepreneur as a whole, the group determines what the entrepreneur’s issue is.

Step 2: Clarifications of 3 Why’s.

This is when the peers ask the entrepreneur questions to further understand the issue and identify the root of the problem.

Step 3: Experience sharing.

Peers offer their own personal stories of how they handled a similar situation.

Each panelist introduced themselves and told the group why they joined EO and how the peer-to-peer groups helped them grow. Then they demonstrated the three-step process by working through a real business problem presented by an entrepreneur in the audience.

If you would like more information about the Entrepreneur’s Organization, the benefits of the peer-to-peer groups, or how to become a member, visit their website at https://www.eonetwork.org.

Innovate New Albany, the city’s incubator for technology startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses, features 16,000 square feet of space within the New Albany Business Park’s Signature Office Building, 8000 Walton Parkway.