Power in Diversity

Guest Contributor: Debbie Lousberg
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I met this week with my smallest Master Mind group, one comprised of me and two other women in the coaching business. I represent the Career Transition aspect, another represents Family coaching, and the third is a Life coach. We are all very different from each other with diverse backgrounds and varied family roots. Our approaches to business are unique as well. The Family coach comes from the social work and therapy field so successfully integrates that expertise into her sessions with family groups. The Life coach is extremely intuitive and sensitive to what's not being said by a client so relies on her insights to help clients through transformations. I am pragmatic and deal mostly with the black and whites of job search strategies and the job market. We have completely different target markets, work habits, and processes.

My point of bringing up these differences is that we originally came together as casual friends getting together to discuss our respective business activities not really knowing if we'd have much to help each other with except for friendly support. It's turned out that we not only are a great support system for each other, and our individual strengths come into play when brainstorming solutions. We each bring something special to our master minding table which has helped tremendously in the growth of our businesses and in our personal lives. The Family coach brings a mental health point of view to our challenges and successes, the Life coach adds her intuitive approach to help us get to the bottom of issues, and I pepper our discussions with reminders of practicality, marketplace and business management recommendations.

Just when you think a potential member of your group may not have anything special to contribute, take the time to find out what makes them unique as a person. Their perspective, background and approach to issues the group discusses may be exactly what one or two members need to hear. Instead of focusing on filling a group with people from different businesses, pay attention to their personalities, success stories, and outlooks on your group's topics. You never know the riches one person may have to share until you take the time to dig a little deeper. Good luck on building a diverse and powerful group, no matter the size!