It’s great to sit around brainstorming brilliant ideas and solutions in your mastermind group meetings, but then you’ve got to get moving on those ideas!

Whether you’re a mastermind group facilitator or a mastermind group member, your commitment to your mastermind group includes helping people create and implement action plans.

This can be hard to do. Many people love to “be in the process” — a yummy place to be sure — but then resist actually doing anything with the creative ideas that were spawned in the meeting.

So, how do you get people to make and keep action plans?

It all starts with the individual Hot Seat process. In each Hot Seat, an individual member talks about his specific problem, decision or goal, and then the group spends a set amount of time masterminding/brainstorming about his situation. Someone should be taking notes of all the idea and solutions so that the Hot Seat member has a list to choose from.

But don’t stop there! Ask the Hot Seat member to select one Action Item he will complete before the next meeting. Sometimes the member knows instantly which idea he’ll move forward on. Sometimes that action item is to simply list all the ideas, weigh each idea against goals and resources, and choose the best idea from that meeting.

Along with choosing an action item, ask the member to set a deadline for themselves. Make sure they’re in the “sweet spot” of having plans and deadlines that both challenging (don’t make it too easy or you’ll never grow) and do-able (make sure it’s something the member feels it’s possible to accomplish).

By getting your mastermind group members to set and keep goals and create action plans, you make them accountable for their own success. Otherwise your group meetings just deteriorate into mere brainstorming and advice-giving sessions that never lead to action and success.

Give your group members the structure and tools they need to create the personal and professional life they want.