Thought Bubble - How to get the most out of your Mastermind Group

VIDEO:

AUTHOR: Robert Craven

Are you in a mastermind group and not getting a bang for your buck? Or maybe you want to join one, but not sure why or how? Watch this video short from Robert Craven where he talks through Mastermind Groups.

Transcription:

Robert Craven  00:06 

Hello, in this session, what I want to do is discuss how to get the most juice out of a mastermind group a mastermind for the one key source of support in the group, by the definition is the members of the group. So, by definition, active members of the group get the most people who ask questions, people who challenge people who make contact, they are going to get the most out of the group. And so that's what you need to do. You need to engage you need to share you need to connect and you need to help others as much as possible. mastermind is not absolutely not a solo sport or an individual activity. So you need to reach out. You need to share, show, update, communicate, so others know what's going on in your business. They know how you can help you and that's just seems obvious.  

Robert Craven  00:55 

The moral of the story is just ask the support will come whether it's by email, Twitter, LinkedIn text phone, there is no excuse for not communicating. The classic ways of getting the most out of your mastermind groups is as follows. The slack or Facebook groups, the Google Drive's or Dropbox as a dad will probably be the two main access points. The community is the one access to community and when you have your meetings, be there be available and use the information if information is deposited files as opposed to there for you to look at. They're not just just pretty thing this is about taking action.  

Robert Craven  01:40 

You have unlimited email support from all the other members of the group. So ask questions and ask them to support and ask and it will come but you need to ask. You need to also ask about how others are doing stuff, what tools they use, what software they use, what results they get asked you see their application form Braska see their culture reports asked to see the whatever it is people will share stuff with you they will share their blackbrook asked about freelancers they use asking about which suppliers they use, they will help you and you know my final tip really on this piece is you know for any kind of zoom call, be prepared, do not arrive 30 seconds before the start or just after the start be there five minutes before relaxed, ready to to participate in being engaged and being involved.  

Robert Craven  02:34 

You're trying to get the maximum value for money out of it. So quick reminder, what is a mastermind forum, it's a combination of group meetings, conference calls, and usually some kind of coaching. It is not consultancy and and we won't do the work for you, you need to do the work for yourselves. In other words, the focus of the group is helping you to run a better business helping each other to run better businesses. It is a programme for people who want to take action. 

Robert Craven  03:06 

 Working with people who want to take action it is a springboard it's a support group is an accountability group. It's somewhere that you can pass your ideas around and in some sense to have your ideas bashed around by other people. So the assumptions are that you are not not out and the assumptions also is that we are not mind reader's so just make contact. A quick note on behaviour in the room, it's really easy to run a mediocre mastermind group where people can vaguely discuss stuff, things Shuffle Along quite merrily, and maybe someone gets a bit of insight here or there. However, if your intention is to run our high performing mastermind, and funnily enough, nearly everyone says that's what they want to do, then we need to play by slightly different rules. The conversation depends on trust, and depends on people being asked the tough questions, and it depends on probing.  

Robert Craven  03:59 

So that is about not always accepting the first answer that someone gives. Likewise, it's about you giving people time to answer questions. It's about not interrupting people and it's about allowing people to to reflect on the questions they've been asked. This means that you're going to be asked to listen actively to your fellows which sometimes is quite difficult when we run our own businesses. It goes without saying that you should not be so rude as to have Facebook or emails on or whatever it was, turn that off and also it goes without saying that there is some unacceptable behaviour which you may encounter and if you do encounter it, you need to think about how you call it out.  

Robert Craven  04:42 

Bullying is not acceptable and while what we do is about challenge, and bullying is difficult to understand more what I'm talking about read radical candour. Yes, there should be laughter but it's not acceptable to belittle or derive people's position or their point interview. So that means no point scoring or cutting people dead, we're here to help each other be better at what we and what they do, which means such behaviour needs to be called out. So onwards and upwards. So if I was a member of a mastermind group, I'd be sure that I knew and understood all the other businesses in the group, I probably visit them or visit them in one form or another, have a day out with each of them to really understand the people their personal goals and their business goals and their business model and what they're trying to achieve. 

Robert Craven  05:32 

 I would check the community group every day, I put something relevant in the community group at least once a week an article or an update on purpose, I would look for opportunities in connection. For other people in the group on purpose, I would look for opportunities in connections that would help me on purpose, I would look to ask the other people exactly what I'm looking for, I would share and I would look for feedback on all manner of new things that I can share, whether it was that my campaigns or events I've been to on purpose, I would follow and retreat, retweet, or other people put out, I'd help people. And I've made contact with everyone so that they know, they know what's going on. And maybe it's my business. I know what's going on in there. We know how we can help each other. And by definition, I prepare for the calls I every time, I would do the prep. I guess the final two the ones for me, I would listen really carefully to what other people say. And I would take on that feedback. I would actually use this as an opportunity to improve myself. And finally, I would show my business plan I'd show my business goals. I'd show my KPIs, and I would be prepared to be held accountable to the group for delivering on. Thank you very much indeed for this.