Master of Mastermind

A Mastermind is a peer group meeting where a proposer presents a problem or issue that requires a workable solution. The problem impacts the proposer’s business or personal life and his self-efforts have not yielded a satisfactory solution. Mastermind can be within a group of friends, business associates, or members of a professional body.

Running a Mastermind group may appear as easy as putting together people interested in taking and providing peer support, but my experience in organizing sessions and Mastermind groups leads me to believe that skill and perseverance is required to be a Master of the Mastermind. I share with you some pointers on running a Mastermind group.

Curating the Right Set of Members

It starts by curating the ideal set of people. People in a Mastermind have to be of complementing nature. It has to be a thoughtful mix of strategists, practitioners, dreamers and critics. While all have to be at a minimum level of experience and education, it is important that the group dynamics encourage trust and transparency.

Maintaining Attendance 

Getting the members to attend the Mastermind is the foremost challenge. While the group is always willing to work on the problem of their co-member, other important matters on the day of the Mastermind keep people from attending. The facilitator needs to stay in touch with the members and devise ways to ensure a good turnout. A Mastermind needs to have a quorum of at least 5 to make it a meaningful exercise.

Getting the Right Brief

The problem statement has to be clearly defined and presented to the group. A bottleneck to some might have an obvious solution if the problem is not stated in the right manner. A facilitator role is to guide the proposer to layout the full facts and help the group understand the situation before delving into a discussion.

Keeping the Spirits High

A seemingly impossible issue or the doggedness of the proposer may wear down the group. At times the energy may get diffused by divergent or tangential directions. The facilitator needs to watch the energy levels of every member keep their attention to the problem.

Challenging the Belief

In a Mastermind, the role of the facilitator is to conduct the meeting but when I facilitate the peer group proceedings I rely on my training as an NLP trainer and coaching skills to challenge the beliefs and posits of the proposer and the participants. I help the group to unravel their hidden power to think laterally and evolve an innovative solution to the problem.

Bettering the Solution

And finally, a facilitator helps to dovetail to a more agreeable and practical solution. Prodding the members to fine-tune the solution brings out a better outcome than just being a passive observer.

What do you think?

Are you part of a Mastermind? Share your experience by adding comments to this article. If you are interested to join or learn more about the Mastermind groups I manage, give me a call.