{"id":1961,"date":"2016-11-02T04:23:16","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T12:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/iiqbal\/?p=1961"},"modified":"2017-02-18T10:03:07","modified_gmt":"2017-02-18T18:03:07","slug":"starting-a-mastermind-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/iiqbal\/2016\/11\/02\/starting-a-mastermind-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting a mastermind group"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I first heard the term\u00a0&#8220;Mastermind Groups&#8221; in the <a href=\"http:\/\/coachingforleaders.com\/\">Coaching for Leaders podcast<\/a> approximately 8\u00a0months ago. Since\u00a0I am\u00a0thinking about starting one, but wasn&#8217;t clear on how these differed or were the same as other support groups, I did some reading on the topic and wanted share what I have learned.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/5xi8KT\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3240\/2979581445_4cbdb75887.jpg\" alt=\"Graphic Conversation\" width=\"500\" height=\"335\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>What is a\u00a0mastermind group?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A mastermind group is created when two or more people come together to work towards a purpose. Individual members set goals and seek to accomplish these.\u00a0Meetings provide support in a group setting and often\u00a0involve feedback, brainstorming, sharing resources and peer accountability.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How is a mastermind group different from\u00a0group coaching?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mastermind groups <a href=\"http:\/\/www.paulkeetch.com\/blog\/group-coaching-vs-mastermind\/\">draw on the wisdom of the group<\/a> and allow individual members to benefit from everyone&#8217;s feedback, support and advice. The facilitator, if there is one, helps with the process and conditions to support the group. In group coaching, the mentor\/facilitator coaches\u00a0individuals in a group setting.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Determine\u00a0a focus<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A mastermind group works\u00a0best when there is a clear focus. Whether you are starting a\u00a0group or joining one, you&#8217;ll want to think carefully about this piece as it affects the success and sustainability of the group and its\u00a0membership.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Selecting\u00a0members for your mastermind group <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I have belonged to\u00a0various &#8216;support groups&#8217; (i.e., writing groups, PhD cohort, and others), and, based on that experience and according to what I have read on mastermind groups, the <em>who<\/em> matters a lot.<\/p>\n<p>In a successful mastermind, members have:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Commitment to the group and to their own goals<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/launch-a-mastermind.html\">Unity of purpose and mission<\/a>&#8221; \u00a0balanced with some\u00a0diversity<\/li>\n<li>Varied\u00a0strengths<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your screening process may be <a href=\"http:\/\/www.passionforbusiness.com\/articles\/mastermind-group.htm\">more formal<\/a> or less so, depending on your preference.\u00a0Members should be clear (to the extent that they can) on what they hope to\u00a0get from\/contribute to the group.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many members should you have?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Several posts\u00a0(e.g., <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lifehack.org\/articles\/featured\/how-to-start-and-run-a-mastermind-group.html\">Lifehack<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/christinekane.com\/7-real-life-tips-for-creating-a-successful-mastermind-group\/\">ChristineKane<\/a>) suggest masterminds should be composed only of a small group of 3-6 people. In my experience, a group of 6 can work when you have a set meeting day\/time (i.e., every Friday at 1 pm) and group of 3\u00a0is better when people&#8217;s schedules vary and you find yourself having to alter the meeting times.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Structuring and running\u00a0a mastermind group <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mastermind groups may\u00a0meet weekly, every two weeks or once a month. Scheduling meetings in advance is advisable, meeting less than once a month isn&#8217;t. Your conversations can be in person, by phone, or online.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, your meetings will be guided by your &#8220;unifying purpose&#8221;. In his <a href=\"https:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/launch-a-mastermind.html\">post<\/a> about mastermind groups, Michael Hyatt suggests the following structure:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>each member shares their highs and lows from the week\/month (15 minutes)<\/li>\n<li>one member gets the &#8220;hot seat&#8221; meaning\u00a0they get focussed attention and time during which they discuss a particular issue, can benefit from the group&#8217;s input, and strategize (30 minutes)<\/li>\n<li>each member determines and shares one action to which she wants to be held <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thesuccessalliance.com\/blog\/holding-members-accountable\/\">accountable<\/a> (15 minutes)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Others (Savara at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/lifehack.org\/articles\/featured\/how-to-start-and-run-a-mastermind-group.html\">Lifehack<\/a>, Karyn Greenstreet at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thesuccessalliance.com\/blog\/hotseateverytime\/\">Success Alliance<\/a>), however, suggest that every member should be in the &#8220;hot seat&#8221; at every meeting. If you choose this option, time in the hot seat needs to be shortened to keep meetings to a reasonable time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>My next steps<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As mentioned at the start of this post, I wrote this because I have an interest in starting\/joining a\u00a0mastermind group related either to\u00a0writing or\u00a0to doing educational consulting as a &#8220;side gig&#8221; (as Dr.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/katielinder.work\/about-katie\/\">Katie Linder<\/a> calls it). The <strong>accountability<\/strong> aspect of masterminds appeals to me at this time and the <strong>focus<\/strong> on a common purpose because I think both of these matter a great deal to the success of the individual and group.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>In writing this post, I have discovered there are many\u00a0resources on the internet about starting and running a mastermind group. \u00a0Some additional resources that I have not linked to above include:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ygtpodcast.com\/qa8\/\">You&#8217;ve Got This Podcast<\/a>\u00a0by Dr. Katie Linder (Thank you Katie for inspiring this post!)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lifehacker.com\/go-beyond-simple-networking-and-organize-your-own-mast-824329576\">Go Beyond Simple Networking and Organize your own Mastermind Group<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit:\u00a0Marc Wathieu, Flickr, Graphic Conversation\u00a0https: \/\/flic.kr\/p\/5xi8KT<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I first heard the term\u00a0&#8220;Mastermind Groups&#8221; in the Coaching for Leaders podcast approximately 8\u00a0months ago. Since\u00a0I am\u00a0thinking about starting one, but wasn&#8217;t clear on how these differed or were the same as other support groups, I did some reading on the topic and wanted share what I have learned. What is a\u00a0mastermind group? A mastermind [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":792,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,3936,2113088],"tags":[3936,757514,1484160,567],"class_list":["post-1961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-facilitation","category-miscellaneous-topics","tag-facilitation","tag-helping","tag-mastermind-group","tag-productivity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/iiqbal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/iiqbal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/iiqbal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/iiqbal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/792"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/iiqbal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1961"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/iiqbal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1972,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/iiqbal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961\/revisions\/1972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/iiqbal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/iiqbal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/iiqbal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}