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How to Choose the Best Mastermind Group Members
September 19, 2011
Creating your own mastermind group — whether for your own participation or as a paid service that you offer to your clients — will help you to grow your business. There are many factors that impact the success of your group, but one of the most important is the selection of the participants. The most important question is: Who do you want to be part of your dream team?
I’ve been a member of mastermind groups for 16 years, and I’ve been teaching how to create and run groups for 7 years. These are the factors that I feel are most important when selecting the right people to be part of your mastermind group:
- Commitment: No mastermind group will function for long if people are not willing to make a sustained commitment to the group. Commitment comes in two forms: commitment to showing up for every meeting without excuse, and commitment to participating in the mastermind group process.
- Balanced Two-Way Sharing: The true benefit of a mastermind group is the brainstorming that happens when one member presents a problem, challenge or decision, and the entire group gets involved with idea and solution generation. The best members are those who are willing to both ask for help and give help. Sometimes you will find members who either want to hog the limelight, or who never ask for help at all. Finding members who will participate in a full and balanced way goes a long way towards making a successful group.
- Follows the Guidelines: Every group should have written guidelines about what’s acceptable behavior. Group members vote on these guidelines so that everyone is in agreement, and every group member must abide by the guidelines. Remember, you are trying to create a spirit of harmony and trust with your group; guidelines help to set the boundaries and create a safe place for everyone.
- No Competitors: It is impossible for someone to be open about their problems, or about their next great idea, if one of their competitors is listening in. When choosing your mastermind group members, be diligent about the connections between people and separate competitors into different mastermind groups as necessary.
- Similar Success and Experience Levels: One way to guarantee that your mastermind group will fail is having people at different experience levels in it. What ends up happening is the more experienced members mentor the less experienced members, but get no real value for themselves. Being in a mastermind group with people who are more successful is great for the junior member, but eventually the more experienced members quit the group in frustration. Instead, try to find people who have similar levels of experience and success.
I would not be successful today if it weren’t for the mastermind groups that I have been a part of. They’re extraordinarily powerful, and the people find support, encouragement and solutions in them. By taking your time when putting together your membership, you’ll have a successful and productive group for years to come.
Allow Off-Topic Conversations in Your Mastermind Group?
August 9, 2011
Let’s pretend that you have a mastermind group focused on real estate investment. John, a member of the group, wants to mastermind about his divorce. Should that topic be allowed?
It doesn’t matter what the primary topic of your mastermind group is, the purpose of most mastermind groups is to create success in your personal and professional life, as YOU define success.
Ah…but what do you do when the members want to talk about something off-topic that is affecting his success? What are the rules and guidelines you use to figure out whether to allow that conversation to blossom or to nip it in the bud?
Here’s my take on off-topic conversation in a mastermind group: if the topic of conversation affects the member’s performance in the MAIN focus area of the group, it should be allowed.
So let’s go back to John’s story. The emotional, financial and physical aspects of his pending divorce ARE affecting his ability to be a good real estate investor. His judgment is clouded. His financial resources are low. He’s overwhelmed and preoccupied.
Allowing him to talk about his divorce — and how it’s affecting his success as a real estate investor — will give him new insights and creative options, as well as support and encouragement. Refusing to talk about his divorce hog-ties his success.
For both the Facilitator and the group members, the trick is to not turn your mastermind group into a psychotherapy support group. You’ll all need to work together to focus John’s conversation on how he can find creative solutions and get the support he needs. If all John can talk about is his divorce then he probably needs to find a different kind of group to help support him during his divorce. Then you can invite him back to the mastermind group when he’s ready to begin moving forward again with his real estate investing.
As the Facilitator it’s your job to pay attention to repeat behavior, repeat topics and repeat performance. If John wants to mastermind about his divorce once or twice, I wouldn’t worry about it. But if it becomes a repeated topic and outside the scope and purpose of your group, then you’ll need to speak with John about his situation.
How to be a Good Mastermind Group Member
July 17, 2011
Think being a mastermind group member is easy? Just ask member Chris Everson.
“I thought that all I had to do was offer advice and sit back and relax. I almost got fired from my group!”
There’s a heightened sense of responsibility that comes from being a mastermind group member. Mastermind groups succeed or fail based on everyone’s two-way involvement: both in asking for help and giving help. If you don’t have balance in those two areas, you’re not an asset to the group.
Here are some tips to being a super mastermind group member:
- Tell your group members what you need from the group that day. Do you just need to be heard or do you need them to brainstorm 30 new ideas with you? Do you need to be held accountable for getting things done or do you need a pat on the back for your successes?
- Don’t hog the limelight. Even if you’re in the Hot Seat, a mastermind group is about everyone getting a chance to share and connect. Try to speak in short paragraphs: get to the crux of the comment or question as quickly as possible, but don’t leave out any crucial information that will affect the conversation.
- Write your Prep Form the day before the meeting so that you’ve thought through the big questions in advance. Don’t prepare for the meeting 10 minutes before it starts and expect amazing results.
- Ask questions. If something doesn’t make sense, if a comment from a mastermind group member doesn’t align with their stated goals and values, if you feel there’s more under the surface: ask about it.
- Listen and take notes. Whether you are in the Hot Seat or someone else is, listening carefully in a focused way to what’s being said (and what’s not being said) will give you 100 times more information than just staring off into space. Taking notes helps you keep focused on the discussion at hand, and gives you a place to jot down your own ideas until it’s your turn to speak — you know how easy it is to have a brilliant idea just fly out of your head the moment you’re trying to remember it!
- Learn how to give constructive feedback. Never attack the person — attack the idea. Be robust in your thinking; don’t let people skate by with flimsy ideas or poorly thought-out action plans. Challenge each other to fulfill their potential and create success in their business and personal lives.
Yes, the success of a mastermind group depends on the quality of the mastermind group facilitator. But more importantly the success of your group depends on your willingness to devote yourself to your own success and the success of others.
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