Building a Mastermind Group

Masterminding and Peer support groups are not a new phenonium created by Napoleon Hill. The Lunar society has been established  since the mid 18th century in Birmingham England.

Leaders working with Leaders to discuss debate and deliberate the better and best ways to make changes, influence progress and for some evolution. Charles Darwin's grandfather Erasmus Darwin was one of the founder members!

As with all groups there have to be rules of engagement to keep the group on task, in focus and successful for all that are involved.

CONFIDENTIALITY - Rule number one - what goes on in the room and the discussions is all said and debated in confidence - nothing can be shared publicly or attributed to an individual outside the Mastermind environment

These rules are not there to prevent progress but to improve the performance of the group and its members - they encourage honest and open conversations - everyone can be guilty of all talk and no action, these rules prevent groups from stagnating and drifting.

Who is the best fit for your group, who can you trust with your inner most secrets, fears and worries? Not everyone is the right fit, some people are givers, talkers, takers and wasters. The right combination of personalities and individuals is very important, in all parts of business and life the chemistry between members and friends is crucial to engender trust and respect.

If you don't like the fit of a group don not join it, if someone else is negatively impacting on the group ask them to leave - take responsibility for the success of your group

Time to consider how regularly you can meet - this is a commitment and attendance is compulsory. Groups tend to be short lived when the commitment to attend is not respected by the members.

Can you honestly meet 10-12 times every year - put those dates in the diary now and block them out - nothing (within reason) can change this diary commitment.

Meeting every week is a large commitment for anyone in business, is this the best schedule for you all? Many of these groups meet via Skype, Facetime or Zoom so the physical face 2 face meeting becomes less onerous on the attendees as there is no travel involved.

For many inhouse Mastermind groups weekly can work perfectly especially when working on specific projects that need close scrutiny and project management.

Take yourself away from it all, remove all distraction, all the challenges and responsibilities of business and personal and take the retreat option. So much can be accomplished and covered in this short intense amount of time. There are the restrictions of allocating the weekend or days away from everyone else, travel, hotels and subsistence costs have to be factored in.

The massive bonus of a retreat is the deep digging, personal openness and solution finding that goes on, nobody can squirm and avoid being challenged and held accountable for what they say they are going to do. 

Of course there isn't a rule that says you can't meet monthly as a standard, weekly on occasions and once a year have a retreat!!

Consider the environment where one person is sitting in front of a group of peers, there could be 5-25 people sitting around them and then it begins. An opening introduction from the person in the Hotseat to what is going on in their world and where they would like some insight, challenge and help.

Now the grilling and probing begins, no solutions, just digging and interrogating for greater understanding of what the issues and opportunities are - dependent upon time - the final stage is ideas and possible solutions shared by the room.

Extra tip here is to have a scribe making notes (taking minutes) of all the feedback and input given to the person in the Hotseat. Better still record it all just for the person in the Hotseats development and support, not for public consumption.

Unlocking synergy and being held accountable for the things you say you will act upon can be so creative and enlightening, you never know where the next great idea is going to come from or exactly what it's going to be.

Consider the political term "a three line whip" where you have to do something - that is how you should view your commitments made to the Mastermind group. Even if you have to stay up half the night before your next group meeting in order to complete those commitments then do it, turning up with some lame wishy washy excuse as to why you have failed to complete is not acceptable!

The potency of 5-8 people in a room all looking to help support and develop each other with no vested interest in their performance aside of creating a groundswell of success and positive energy to be around.

Masterminding is the most powerful group support network available, from students to entrepreneurs to elite sportsmen and women or professional carers a form of masterminding can make a massive difference to all.

· You’ll be part of an exclusive community. Joining a mastermind typically involves you being invited by the members or going through an application process. The other members need you just as much as you need them, so quality of experience and knowledge is crucial to all involved.

· Advisement. Once you are involved in a mastermind, that feeling of “being alone” while running your business is gone. The other members of the group turn into business advisors of sorts and vice versa.

· Collaboration is the name of the game. You may find someone in the group that is a perfect fit to work on a project with you. Or, you may be the perfect person to help another member as well. The group works together collaboratively, to achieve more together.

· Extend your network. Joining a mastermind expands your network exponentially and rapidly. If you are in business, you know how important your network is. By joining a mastermind, you instantly add to your network and typically gain the networks of those in the group with you.

· New learning. Everyone in the mastermind is unique in skill, experience and connections. By interacting and sharing your challenges, it’s almost certain that someone in your mastermind will have a solution for you and you may also be able to offer a solution, connection or tactic to help another in the group.

· Cross-promotion. When you join a mastermind, you will most likely find ways to help each other by utilizing cross promotion. Finding ways to help each other through promoting to your respective networks.

· Think bigger. Being in a mastermind will truly give you a Master Mind! You can’t help but think bigger and stretch beyond your boundaries when surrounded by amazing people doing amazing things.