As the group facilitator, it is important that you set some mastermind group guidelines about how the group will run. What are your rules and expectations for member behavior?

This helps establish the nature of the relationship among members and builds rapport and trust — two crucial ingredients for a successful mastermind group.

Basic Guidelines

Include the following in your mastermind group guidelines:

1. Information about meetings (are they in-person or virtual, when will they be held, and how long will each meeting will last)
2. Attendance expectations, including being late to meetings and the level of commitment required of the members
3. The purpose of the group
4. If every member gets to be in the Hot Seat every meeting
5. Group etiquette guidelines and the nature of proper behavior in the meetings
6. How new members will be added to the group
7. How and why someone will be removed from the group
8. If there is a message board for between-meeting discussions, and what are the rules for using it
9. If the group will be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement

Communication

It also helps to establish some guidelines around communication. Talk to them about deep listening and not interrupting each other. Talk to them about asking proper clarifying questions, and about the structure of your brainstorming sessions to produce a huge quantity of possible solutions to problems.

The way group members communicate with each other, both during Hot Seats and outside of Hot Seats sets the tone and nature of the group. Your goal is to create harmony, respect, and trust among the members. By guiding them about what good communication and listening sound like, you ensure that they’ve got the skills they will need to be successful in the group.

Dealing With Problems

Whenever a group of people gets together, there are likely to be problems, even small ones. Decide in advance how problems will be brought to the surface and resolved. Ask your group to brainstorm around this and let them decide what is a problem (and what’s not a problem), and how they want to communicate about it.

In this way, you and your group will have a conscious process for dealing with interpersonal challenges which will free everyone to get on with the best brainstorming ever!

If you want more information about mastermind group rules and guidelines, read my blog post, Mastermind Group Rules: 9-Point Checklist here.

Want to learn how to start a mastermind group? Click here to get my free video tutorial on how to create a mastermind group of your own.