In late January, Josh and I attended our first meeting as members of a peer-review business group called “Building Energy, Bottom Lines.” The group is organized through the New England Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), and as such, is run with the understanding that all participating businesses be interested in the triple bottom line approach- concerned with people, planet, and profit. Yup. There’s much to be concerned about.
From now on, our group will meet twice per year at one member’s business, and share deep secrets like our profit and loss statements, marketing strategies, business structure, payroll information, etc. The host will undergo an ever deeper disrobing, as members of our group (Team Flo, for the record) interview employees, past clients, and subs of the host, tour shop spaces and job sites, and take a good hard look at future goals of the company. The concept is to be able to compare and contrast decisions we’ve all made about issues we have in common. We’ll learn from each other, and be able to gain new perspective on our businesses from other people in the same boat.
Three of these NESEA-run peer review groups started up a couple of years ago, with great success. This fourth group is the first of the ‘new generation.’ Our fearless leader is Kate Stephenson, who recently stepped down from her position as the Executive Director at Yestemorrow Design/Build school to start a partnership at Helm, offering construction management services and business consultation.
