In Quebec, it's not lonely at the top: For more than 30 years, Quebec SME leaders have had a forum to break out of their isolation and improve their leadership skills. (Management Trends).

It now counts more than 900 heads of Quebec SMEs as members, but Groupement des chefs d'entreprises du Quebec (GCEQ), (Quebec Business Leaders Group, in English), wasn't always so extensive. In 1974, Marcel Bundock invited a few business leaders to meet. His idea was to build a network of SME entrepreneurs in Quebec.

"We were driven by two motivations: the unfeasibility of the initiative, because it was contrary to prevailing business attitudes, and the desire to break out of our isolation, because we each felt we were really on our own in running our business," explains Bundock. He was to be the organization's founding president.

Helene Bergeron, GCEQ director of business development, says that initially even the founder thought the idea was crazy. But just getting together regularly to talk about forming the group brought these businessmen closer together, and talking about their businesses came naturally.

Mutual growth

The original members of GCEQ were from all over Quebec. "In no time, they realized that they were learning how to be leaders from each other," Bergeron notes. This club-like atmosphere is the staple of what GCEQ has become.

The head office has been in Drummondville since 1975, when the group was rather small and traveling to outlying districts posed no problem. Bundock offered to provide space for meetings, and that was the main reason GCEQ set up shop there. Despite its expansion over the years, the organization has kept its head office in this industrial town.

After a few years, the founding members decided that they would each work in their own regions, using the initial model of the meetings to form local groups of business leaders. The idea snowballed, and the clubs began to grow.

GCEQ consists of active shareholders who are the heads of mainly manufacturing, distribution and industrial companies. More than half its members have been active for at least three years.

"Shared experience is the source of the group's value," explains Bergeron. The leaders motivate each other, and the energy generated by the club stimulates innovation.

The GCEQ mission is to encourage a spirit of mutual assistance through the exchange of experiences by current and future business leaders to help their companies succeed and grow. The board of directors represents all the regions of Quebec and includes only GCEQ members. The directors speak for the members in their region and ensure that projects respond to member needs, remaining vigilant about results and the financial health of the group. The board promotes the growth and influence of its members and the business community overall.

The 900 SME leader-members employ 67,799 people and represent sales of $8.5 billion, with in manufacturing, 10% in distribution and 11% offering industrial services. The 900 members are divided into smaller groups of eight to ten, and these little clubs are scattered all across the province. Right now, there are 120 clubs that meet once a month. "That's how they can share their experience. It would be much more difficult if the clubs were bigger," Bergeron says. GCEQ pays careful attention not to put competitors, customers or major suppliers in the same club. It means members can be more open, and often they are. Some club members even put their financial statements on the table every month. The clubs are formed based on a group of companies' stages of development. Bergeron notes that the members hold the precepts of the organization -- sharing, mutual growth -- in great esteem.

Member benefits

There are, however, very strict criteria for joining GCEQ. The company must be actively involved in manufacturing and/or distributing, i.e. producing, transforming or assembling a tangible product in a plant. The manufacturing and/or distributing business must account for at least 20% of sales. The business must be big enough that it employs more than just the owner and requires, in the case of a manufacturing company, reasonably advanced technology and processes. It must also be a Quebec company, controlled by one or more people living in Quebec.

Obviously, the candidate has to be in charge of the company, whether as an entrepreneur, owner or someone with a significant investment in the business, with a controlling or at least very influential role in operations and managerial focus. It's generally the president, principal shareholder or a person whose investment is at least equal to the other active shareholders. Lastly, the candidate must be unanimously accepted by an existing club.

More than 90 reputable consultants, known by members to have expertise in such key fields as business administration, financial services, export, training, research and development, human resources, etc., partner with GCEQ. They offer professional services to members and work closely with business leaders one-on-one.

Subjects discussed in the club include a whole gamut of key interests, including management experiences, profits, strategic concerns, human resources and controls. This discussion and mutual assistance opportunity is openly focused on creating and maintaining business leaders. Each club also tackles a specific topic at each meeting, such as "how to lead in hard times" or "ensuring business continuity."

There are, in addition, 15 clubs of aspiring leaders, created to help members better prepare their successors. The leaders help accelerate and facilitate the path of the next generation to management and assuming company leadership. These clubs focus on such topics as "successors and shareholding," "how to take your place," "conditions for a successful handover," etc. Leaders are invited to share their experiences on such subjects as financing and other aspects of concern to successors who want to grow and ensure the continuity of their company. Thus, successors also learn how to lead. "There is no other resource in Quebec for preparing successors that is as practical, effective and personalized," Bergeron insists.

Regional councils of all the club presidents meet twice a year. These meetings, in each of the 14 regions of Quebec, are designed to offer a second self-help group, along with an opportunity to consult members on the orientation and services offered by GCEQ.

Every year, the clubs profit from the experiences of their colleagues at meetings called "Innovation Workshops." These are groups of several clubs that gather to discuss a specific topic. In addition to making new contacts, these meetings allow a chance to talk to other members and obtain a more varied vision of the same topic.

Strategic guidance

GCEQ also offers its members what it calls the "helping hand" (coup de pouce) solution. This service gives a business leader, on the cusp of making a major decision, an opportunity to better weigh the pros and cons of that decision. The decision might involve a major investment1 an acquisition, a financial crisis, a conflict among partners, etc. Members who have already experienced similar situations in a similar type of company share their experience to support the decision-making process. The group agrees on a consensus action plan, and the person offered assistance is free to execute some or all of it, since the purpose of the "helping hand" is to be able to make a decision with greater confidence and clarity. If necessary, a leader can receive coaching over a longer period.

GCEQ offers a strategic information service, a reference bank and access to an electronic self-help network, "Chefs en ligne" (leaders on line), linking the heads of 500 Quebec SMEs. Any member can thus quickly call on the knowledge of peers, explaining the problem by e-mail, and those who have already experienced something similar can give their views so that others benefit from their experience.

An annual symposium and conference discusses the major concerns of the heads of Quebec SMEs. The symposium is a day focused mainly on the concerns of the company leader. On this occasion, other members of the management team may also attend, depending on the symposium topic, whereas the conference is addressed more specifically to leaders and their families.

Shared experience and mutual assistance are the basic principles of the organization and have been from the outset. "We don't offer training as such. We focus only on experience," points out Bergeron. She notes that GCEQ is often called the "School for Leaders." Since there is relatively little published on this subject, she considers it a fair description. The leader's trade can't really be taught, but company leaders don't need to be lonely at the top. Thanks to GCEQ, they can speak freely and find solutions to their problems, big and small.

Julie Demers ([e-mail]) ii associate French editor of CMA Management magazine.