Skip to content
humphrey-m-NOyHGCMIn6M-unsplash

The Alternative Board Cheshire

Improve your business and change your life with The Alternative Board

Tackle your greatest opportunities and challenges in collaboration with others.

The journey of owning and growing a business is one of the most rewarding and challenging anyone can experience. Like any journey, it is one that is best shared. Imagine doing that, in confidence, with a peer group of experienced business owners to share challenges and insights, to hold each other accountable, and to celebrate achievements.

This is the power of The Alternative Board (TAB).

Sandra Tinker leads the Cheshire TAB advisory boards and is passionate about using her 30 years of business and leadership experience to help business owners thrive. Book a call to discuss your needs and how TAB can make a difference.

Discover the benefits of advice from others like you

Start with you

Focus on what you want in life and how your business can help get you there.

Increase profitability

Be held accountable to meet your business targets.

Improve decisions

Take control of your decisions through peer support and proven planning tools.

Make better time choices

Spend your time well by utilising the experience of others.

Become a better leader

Motivate your people with the guidance of peers and an expert coach.

Plan a successful exit

Get the best result for you with tailored, hands-on support.

Real Stories from Real Business Owners

Scaling Up with Confidence: George Goss’s Business Journey with TAB
by George Goss

Discover how George Goss grew his business 2.5x and built a stronger team with the support of The Alternative Board (TAB) and peer advisory insights.

Scoring Big: How Blueblood Transformed Their Business Game with TAB
by Dale Harris and Ben Cook

Discover how Dale Harris and Ben Cook transformed their business with TAB's support, boosting profitability and streamlining operations.

Strategic Innovation & Mentorship | Dev4 Online Success Story
by Gail Henderson

Learn how Gail Henderson overcame uncertainty with strategic innovation and mentorship with TAB. 

Since Joining TAB...

68%

of members said their turnover increased

91%

of members said their ability to address people or organisational issues improved

87%

of members said their leadership skills improved

81%

agree they get great value from their TAB Board

See full 2024 Member Survey Results here

Your Cheshire Facilitator

Sandra Tinker is a highly experienced business transformation leader and coach who works with business owners and leadership teams to strengthen decision-making, accelerate growth, and turn strategy into meaningful action.
 
With over 15 years’ experience delivering complex change, Sandra has partnered with national and international organisations including Diageo, News UK, The Guardian, and Condé Nast. In these environments, she worked closely with senior leaders to clarify direction, sequence priorities, align teams, and deliver large-scale digital, strategic, and cultural transformation programmes. This background gives her a deep understanding of what it takes to make good decisions under pressure — and, crucially, to follow through.
 
As founder of The Tinker Consultancy Ltd and creator of The Spirit of Change coaching practice, Sandra brings a practical, commercially grounded approach that blends strategic clarity with a strong focus on people, culture, and readiness. She is known for creating safe, trusting environments where leaders can think more clearly, challenge assumptions, and commit to action.
 
As TAB Cheshire facilitator, Sandra combines peer board insight with disciplined facilitation and one-to-one coaching to help business owners step out of the day-to-day, work on their business, and move forward with confidence. Her focus is not just on great conversations, but on better decisions, stronger execution, and sustainable business and personal success.

Start your TAB journey

Get in touch with Simon using the forms on this page.

He will contact you to arrange an introductory meeting.

 Chat about whether TAB is right for you and your business.

Attend your first TAB board meeting and experience the power of peer support.

What our members say...

What truly sets Simon apart is his character. He approaches every challenge with unwavering integrity, listens deeply, and offers solutions that are not only effective but thoughtful and tailored to our needs. His positive mindset has been a source of motivation for the entire team.
Mais Callan, Impactive Tech

Latest news and insights from TAB (UK)

Leadership Training for Managers: Why SMEs Can’t Ignore It

22 December 2025 | 4 minute read

Discover why leadership training for managers is vital for SME growth and how HI-MAP turns learning into action.

How Better Decision-Making Tools Help Leaders Act With Confidence

18 December 2025 | 4 minute read

How simple decision-making tools like scorecards, dashboards, and decision matrices help business leaders cut through noise and make confident decisions.

How Peer Support Builds Stronger Business Leaders

11 December 2025 | 4 minute read

Discover how community and leadership go hand in hand and why peer support helps business owners grow with confidence and clarity.

Business coaching FAQs

While each business is on a unique journey, there are some common problems that many people face on the road to business success. A coach will utilise their own years of experience in business to help target these issues and get businesses past them. A coaching program can help you identify the areas where you need to make changes to expand your business and to stay ahead of the competition. 

Often the qualities that people value in a  business coach include insight, life coaching skills, character and areas of expertise, experience and trust. It is important that you find the right business coach for you. It might be However, when you chat with potential coaches you could ask them questions like:

– What are the biggest challenges you’ve helped client solve?
– What do you do best? What don’t you do so well?
– Where have you failed and how did you handle it?

It’s easy to find your local TAB coach, just visit our board near you page, find your nearest coach and get in touch with them. They’ll be happy to answer any more specific questions about TAB and how we can help your business.

Your monthly coaching session, which can be held online, with your TAB business coach focuses on commitments you made at the last board meeting.

Plus, you review a 90-day goal that you set and commit to with your coach, and build the strategic foundations of your business using TAB’s Business Builder’s Toolkit.

The sessions are designed to provide ongoing support, where you can ask for further guidance and resources to achieve your goals and objectives.

Of course, your coach with adapt to your pressing needs, issues, or challenges that you want to discuss.

There is a small difference between a coach and mentor. A coach acts as a sounding board and guide, helping coachees tap into their full potential, whereas a mentor offers or imparts their own knowledge and experience to help someone else grow and develop.

Our TAB coaches endeavour to do a bit of both because ultimately we want you, the business owner, to get what you want from life. 

In our experience, we’ve found that the best business mentors are often those who have owned a business themselves. This is because regardless of size, industry or value, 70% of businesses face the same challenges.

Experienced business owners with any degree of success, have already overcome the bulk of the challenges entrepreneurs face everyday.

This is why the TAB system is so successful – alongside our business coaching, we facilitate peer advisory groups made up of other business owners and entrepreneurs, and all of our facilitators have owned their own business or held a senior business leadership role.