On Internet Business

Entrepreneurs’ Organization Forum meetings

Posted by Michael under Business Growth, Entrepreneur Resources, Leadership

In May I will be taking over the presidency of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization in the UK. Stepping into this role is exciting and has caused me to reflect on the benefits that entrepreneurs obtain from working with EO, notably the peer-to-peer support and expertise of Forum.

What is Forum?

It’s a confidential peer support system that allows individual entrepreneurs both to present challenges and issues that confront them to the group, and to comment on the challenges and issues being face by others, by sharing relevant personal experiences.

What makes it different to a normal discussion?

First, there’s a one day training programme to help entrepreneurs learn to talk about taboo subjects ranging from marital strife to annual profit. This training gives entrepreneurs a chance to explore what good communication is, how a safe environment for sharing sensitive information works, and what their responsibilities are for maintaining integrity and confidentiality.

Then the three key principles come into play at each meeting. They are confidentiality, personal responsibility, and gestalt language protocol. This means:

1. Everything said in forum is ultra-private.
2. That members are reminded that they only get out what they put in – so not only do they have to assist others by sharing their experience where they can, but they also have the personal responsibility of taking back any lessons they learn from the experience of others and putting those lessons into practice.
3. That giving advice is forbidden – only sharing experience is allowed. This is crucial to the development of entrepreneurs and their businesses because it gives priority to personal insight rather than to offering advice – it makes the recipient of the experience wholly responsible for turning it into action, and it means they have nobody to blame for ‘bad advice’ if it doesn’t work out as they anticipated it would.

Each of the monthly sessions focuses on an issue presented by one member, which he or she would like the others to help him or her resolve. After a presentation of the issue, which can last up to twenty minutes, those around the table with the presenter are given three minutes each to ask questions that clarify the problem and illuminate the wider context within which the problem, and the entrepreneur, operate. This, in itself, helps the presenter learn about the problem they’ve identified and whether they have framed it correctly. Then discussion is based entirely on the personal experiences those around the table have had with that issue.

What are the benefits of Forum participation?

• Personal responsibility is enhanced, while new ideas are made available in a safe environment for sharing sensitive information
• The ability to learn from the experiences of others without having to follow any kind of prescriptive course
• Many Forum members feel that by sharing their own experiences they help others avoid or transcend problem issues, so they are ‘giving back’ to the entrepreneur community.

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