SEMLEP
Peer networks - a view from the inside
Sandra Edwards is a SEMLEP Growth Hub Business Adviser, helping businesses in the South East Midlands region to recover, thrive and achieve sustainable growth. For the past six months, Sandra has been involved with the
Peer Networks programme, helping businesses come together in a time when we couldn’t be further apart. As we look to the future, post-pandemic and in a new age of business, Sandra outlines her involvement with the programme, and the successes she has seen local businesses derive as a result: With 18 years of experience in the business fi eld, I joined SEMLEP’s
Growth Hub as a Business Adviser in October 2020. It was my passion for helping business owners overcome their problems which led me to the role. Part of my role was to help encourage more people to join the Peer Networks cohorts that were going to be running in January. I was instantly attracted to the programme; I was already familiar with peer group programmes and knew that they are a really good way of getting business owners to think diff erently about their business.” To describe Peer Networks more fully, the programme itself off ers
several elements. Primarily, it’s an opportunity to engage with your business peers, connect with them and talk openly about things that directly aff ect your businesses. T ere are two sides to the programme; there’s an open side, where
you can have that free-flowing communication between group members, and you have a structured side, where the delivery partner gives a set of presentations led by an expert. T ese cover a series of topics that are relevant to the businesses on the programme. T at could include marketing, fi nance and HR issues, and the group can put forward topics that are particularly relevant to them. T ere is then an opportunity for the businesses to split up into
groups and discuss what has been said. At the end of each session there is also time set aside for participants to have a free discussion about their own businesses and how the topics covered relate to them. Over the course of the sessions, there is also the chance for each business to have some focus time, during which they can talk about key problems that aff ect their business, and the peer group can give their input and off er solutions to those problems. T at is one of the most important elements, and one that the participants really love. At the end of the course, during the last session, each participant puts everything they’ve learnt into a business plan which they can
34 ALL THINGS BUSINESS
Sandra Edwards Business Adviser at SEMLEP Growth Hub
then go and put into action. T e programme really does encompass everything; you’ve got that expert knowledge, you get to talk with your peers, it’s very fl uid and you can keep in contact between sessions. Once you fi nish the programme, you can stay in touch with the other members and continue to help and advise each other. It really does provide you with a network you can be part of forever if you want to.
Unique strengths Peer Networks has some unique strengths. One of the challenges of getting people to join the programme is that they say ‘I don’t have time’. Every business owner wants to grow their business, but they don’t have time because they’re too busy working on the day-to-day tasks. If you do that, though, you’re going to limit yourself and how far you can grow your business. It can also restrict how well you are able to recognise threats and steer your business away from them.
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