The Alternative Board’s David McCartney on providing support for Yorkshire business owners

Earlier this year, a North Leeds-based business support firm announced significant growth plans and introduced a new addition to the team.

Entrepreneur David McCartney launched The Alternative Board in 2010, one of the first of its kind in the UK, which brings business leaders together for monthly business owner advisory meetings and one-to-one support.

Five year later and due to growing demand for the business’ service, David will be joined by global HR specialist, Lisa Richards, who will run additional TAB boards for more business leaders in the area.

TAB was first launched in the USA 25 years ago, and came to the UK in 2009, basing UK operations out of Harrogate, and now there are currently 12 TAB facilitators in Yorkshire.

When Bdaily recently caught up with David to discuss the continued success of one of the fastest-growing business support firm’s in the region, he told us how he initially became involved with TAB, and why he thinks there is a growing number of Yorkshire business owners turning to the firm’s services.

Before working with TAB, David told me: “I spent 21 years working for a large corporate plc, which I left 8 years ago.”

Since leaving that position David “has been involved with two family owned businesses and then became chief executive of a university spin-out from Heriot-Watt University.” He told me: “In that role, I first experienced the real benefits of high-quality, impartial real world advice from a talented board of non-executive directors. Therefore I fully understood the extraordinary value of peer advice when I was first introduced to TAB.

“I wanted to own my own business and make a real difference to my local business community, and so an obvious first step for me was to buy the TAB north Leeds franchise, which I did five years ago.”

David believes business leaders are drawn to TAB services because the firm’s “philosophy is simple.” He explained: “It can be challenging and potentially lonely when running and leading a business. We bring business owners and leaders from non-competing sectors together in a group setting, similar to a board of directors, and help each other identity opportunities and solve the challenges that each person faces in their business.

“Critically our members hold each other accountable for taking their businesses to the next level.”

The majority of businesses that are TAB members, find themselves faced with the same difficulties, and David explained that the “typical issues we get involved in would be around the multiple challenges of business growth, succession planning, the lack of an effective business plan in place and the ongoing implementation of that plan, staff recruitment and retention, the classic work-life balance conundrum, the dependence on the business on the leader and quite often the problem that - it’s very difficult to see the wood from the trees.”

Furthemore, the success of TAB in the last five years, since David bought the franchise, definitely shows he practises what he preaches.

When revealing the strategy behind TAB’s success, David said: “As part of my growth plan, I am working with a facilitator, and between us we facilitate six TAB boards and work with over 30 business leaders. I had to be selective about understanding and deciding which marketing tactics work best for me. I made a conscious decision not to use certain social media channels, but rather focus on face-to-face meetings and referrals.

“The absolute key to my success is being able to offer an environment where my members believe that TAB offers a high value way of investing their time and money on a month-by-month basis.

“This is down to high retention and a number of members have now being with me for over five years.”