The Power of the Mastermind process

Guest Contributor: Michelle Rumney
Michelle's Posts - Michelle's Blog


As the initiator of the Mastermind Group I attend every week, I had the idea at the beginning that somehow I was responsible for it, in the sense that I had started it and I was leading it forward and so I had to be present at every session to inform, guide, facilitate, structure, focus, energize, etc. Even though I often invite another member of the group to lead a session, or co-facilitate it, or run a workshop or whatever, and we're a very supportive and pro-active group as a whole, essentially I've felt up to now that I'm the one providing the MM service for the others.

This week though, I failed on every level to do any of those things; I forgot my notes, I hadn't made the time to plan the session ahead of time, and was generally so preoccupied with my own life that I got to the session in a state very different than my usual relaxed, prepared and positive self. Immediately after I stuttered some sort of opening sentence, the group, and I mean the group, not just an individual, asked me what was wrong and what was bothering me - after 7 months of meeting every week, and sharing our thinking and ideas, it's easy enough to tell if someone isn't on their usual form.

So, I apologized and described the business problem I'd had that week and the stress I'd experienced as a result by way of explanation. How great then is the power of the Mastermind? The next thing I knew, everyone in the group had a personal experience about that aspect of business to share to try and help me. Over the course of the next hour, contributions came from everyone in the form of practical advice, suggestions for possible solutions, examples of different outcomes exampled in similar situations, albeit in completely different industries, lots of questions and a lively open discussion about my particular situation and how I might approach it. It was such a useful session that I took notes - there was so much to take in and remember. I thanked everyone at the end - I was so grateful for everyone's input to my problems and apologized again for being off-form/off-plan.

Attitudes towards attending a MM group are so important for the group to function at a true Mastermind level - I have always asked people to remember to think not "what did I get out of that?" after a session, but "what did I give or contribute to that?". I felt almost guilty after this session that I'd got so much out of it and hadn't really given anything except the problem to discuss. Over the next few days though, I got calls one by one from the group - to see if I was OK, to see how my problem/solution was going, but mainly to say 'thanks' and to let me know that it was one of the most enjoyable and useful of our sessions to date as the subject was something relevant to anyone in business, ie. all of us in our particular group.

I'm just so grateful now to have found the Mastermind process and to be able to participate in it and continue to learn from it and contribute to it in whatever capacity I can.