I’ve had a couple of them in the past. When the members met as the said they would, we had fantastic meetings. But, when they allowed other things to encroach on the times that we had set aside for them, they were a complete waste of time.

There’s no need to have a president and vice-president, or even an agenda. You simply have each person talk about his/her business for 10 or 15 minutes to begin with, and then perhaps 5 minutes during each session thereafter. Each takes his/her turn. As each business is discussed, others will get ideas on how to solve the problems mentioned.

The MasterMind is the additional mind that results from everyone discussing one another’s business. For example, if there are five people in the group, then a sixth mind is created, in that some or all of them will think of things that they would not have thought of on their own.

In groups where there is commitment and people do show up, there’s often the wrong attitude. (The same problem occurs in many networking groups.) The right attitude is, “What can I give?” The wrong attitude is, “What can I get?” Groups tend to unravel when members with the wrong attitude feel that they’re not getting enough. In groups, of any kind, where members are trying to outgive one another, the level of success is absolutely astounding!

Having only one person speak at in a given meeting also stifles the mechanism of a MM group. Sure, some people may come up with a few ideas to help another, but it’s much more likely that they will if everyone talks about their businesses.

I encourage you to obtain a copy of the presentation that NH gave on this topic. He lists the five or six men who met in the MM group he describes. One of the them was F W Woolworth. The others, whose names escape me, also were at the beginning of their careers. NH stresses that none of them had any money. Yet, all of them developed huge businesses.

There’s a lesson there for all of us.

Phone groups work OK, but there is something precious about physically meeting, and that is the degree of commitment required to get there. People engage more (and therefore get more) when commitment is present. Online forums you can drop in and out of don’t engender the kind of commitment required for mastermind groups to inspire their members

Mastermind groups are a highly effective element of scaffolding for your business growth.

http://www.nbcoach.co.nz
http://www.biztime.co.nz (interactive coaching programme)

Our business is to assemble and facilitate these boards for business owners, but we have also created a step by step guide for those that want to create their own. We beleive in the concept so much that we would rather give you the tools to do it yourself correctly, than not do it at all.

http://theentrepreneurcircle.wordpress.com/category/peer-advisory-board/

I started a Mastermind group for the sole purpose initially to study Think And Grow Rich. Every week we would discuss a chapter. As we neared the end of the book, I decided to add structure. I realised that we were beginning to get a little disorganized in our approach and perhaps not totally benefiting from our hour and a half. So now with structure, there are specific times allotted to discussing members’ wins from the past week with a focus on one particular member’s problems during a given meeting. What started out as a book study, has turned into a once a week meeting. Members a making leaps and bounds in their businesses…making decisions they had not thought of or thought possible, and just thankful that they have a place to grow and learn safely.

You’ve given me more ideas still and I’m excited to test and see what’s going to work for our group.

Thanks as always for your insight

You might want to re-examine the “leadership” issue. I’ve been in three mastermind groups, none of which had a “head honcho.” And they’ve all worked amazingly well, including my current one. We do have an agenda with a hot seat, and we all have a commitment. But no one’s in charge.

I actually believe that having a “head honcho” or a vice president could undermine the effectiveness of the group- because the idea, at least for in my experience, is that each person shows up 100%, with no one in charge. Having someone in charge works against the individual leadership autonomy and responsibility each person needs to show every time.

Just a counter-thought.

It’s a good counter thought.

And here’s one back…
If your group consists of people who take charge, then it works.

Put even one or two vibrant people in a group, and it infuses the group like lemon infuses water.

However having said that: I’ve seen groups with lousy leadership and that too falls apart pretty quickly. As we’ve discussed before there’s no one way. It’s just a way that I’m proposing, because I’ve seen it work with most BNI groups.

Just trying to make things work for now. Not necessarily work perfectly

@Rae: Will have a look at the book.

@TwentyTwenty: Yes, that’s correct. Who does make the difference. But often we have situations where “who” is not possible. And this is more the case online than offline of course. In this case, a “common page” is used as a format. Every one works from a “common page” or sings from the “same page”. The underlying principle then switches to WHY.

Great article on masterminding. You remind the reader that if your mastermind is NOT set up as a Mastermind, then it it doomed to fail. Your points on attending and keeping it focused are vital.

In my book, 2020 Mastermind, we share a few more guidelines that are vital to the life and success of both real time and online masterminds.

One of the most important, is to be very selective with WHO YOU decide to invite to your mastermind.

Surround yourself with people who are STARS, people who are taking massive, focused, directed action on their goals and dreams.

Because if you invite anyone else into your mastermind, it will just wither and die.

Have a great day Sean!

Mr. Twenty Twenty
Ex Hostage – Professional Visionary
Giving the Visionaries of Tomorrow the tools they need to take massive action today! Whoo yah!

As far as I know – the book is now a free pdf download. It was published in the 1970s when she was working as a counselor in New York. (She’s still working in her 70s as a presenter and writer.)

On line is not as good as live, IME, because the very act of preparing and turning up to the meetings and making the call to your buddy for the week is a great way to chop off the pitiful excuses. Progress is more certain.

Your observations are right on the money.