3 Secrets of a Super-Charged Mastermind Group

Guest Contributor: Melanie Benson Strick
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Is your mastermind super-charged? Well, if you are growing at the speed of light, feeling challenged to play a bigger game, and thinking of ways to take your business to the next level then yes, you probably have a super-charged mastermind.

But for many people in a mastermind, you might actually feel like Debbie did. Debbie stopped me at a recent event where I was speaking to ask me about my mastermind group. I often will talk about how my own personal mastermind group has challenged me to skyrocket my success. Debbie shared with me that in her mastermind group, she felt stagnant. Often her group, as well meaning as they all were, just went through the motions. Many showed up late to the meetings, didn't have any progress to share and seemed as if they were "on another planet."

Debbie was feeling the pain of a mastermind group in burn out. That happens when people get comfortable and don't feel that challenge to rise to the occasion anymore. I suggested that she "super-charge" her mastermind group.

So what are my 3 secrets to a super-charged mastermind?

First, only allow into the group people who share common values of integrity, connection and win-win outcomes. When your mastermind group hits a lull, it will be the common values that create a foundation to push past the burn out.

Second, have consequences for not showing up, being late, or not accomplishing goals. Human beings are susceptible to the "comfort zone." There has to be something at stake to continue to push past that comfort and continue to grow. Each group member must be aware of the cost of not playing by the rules.

Third, reenergize the group by introducing new players. Sometimes you just have to shake the group up a bit and get fresh bodies (and thinking) into the group.

The bottom line is that your mastermind group needs to stimulate, challenge and inspire you to play a bigger game. If that's not happening, you might need to find a new group.

Injecting Fuel Into Your Mastermind Fire

Guest Contributor: Damon Clifford
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Mastermind Groups are a great way to meet creative, innovational, and thought provoking people. You bounce ideas off of each other and collaborate and elaborate on each of the ideas. Some of the best discussions have come from seemingly "ridiculous" ideas, but once you start going through the process and discussing the idea, it actually creates a positive and energizing dialog.

What happens after you've been in the same group, with the same people month after month?

It starts to get boring!

There are a couple of things you can do to prevent this problem.

The first is to make sure your mastermind group is constantly introducing new people each month. With these new people coming in, there are constant streams of new thoughts and ideas. In larger groups like this, there are people from every industry that can bring in fresh perspectives.

I belong in one group that has only five people, and it will always only have five people. Once a month, we invite someone to come join us for a meeting. This type of meeting is just to let the guest come in and inject us with new ideas and playing devils advocate.

This allows our group members to think in new and different ways, keeping us sharp and focused throughout the year.

I've been involved with another small group like this (that didn't want to grow its membership) and it failed. It failed because after some time, we couldn't come up with more creative ideas to bounce off of each other. We had all come to "think alike" and in any mastermind group, this is not good.

Whichever type of Mastermind Group you join, you must make sure that they have a process of introducing fresh ideas. Hopefully these two tips will help you achieve just that.