When It's Time To Leave - What Worked? What Didn't?

Guest Contributor: Lorraine Cohen
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Last month I wrote about deciding to leave my mastermind group after 5 years. You might be wondering why. After all, 5 years with the same group suggests it must have been working well for me to stay so long, right?

Yes, and no.

What worked well?

- Trust was established early on so that we felt safe to be vulnerable with each other. That helped us to confront our self-sabotage and resistance.

- Diversity of our businesses and life experiences brought a wealth of insights, resources, expertise and potential leads.

- Many of the meetings were highly productive and motivating. Each time I left I was inspired and eager to take the next steps. In this group, I turned many pivotal corners to take my business out in a bigger way.

What didn't?

- Group size was too small at three. While adding new people was discussed, no move to invite others to join occurred. We missed out on having fresh perspectives and resources that would re-energize the group.

- Scheduling problems. Because we were so small, if one or two had unexpected conflicts, we scrambled to reschedule which sometimes made the times in between meetings too long.

- Certain basics of the group began to slide; having agreements written by the first day of each month, actual business check-ins started late and meeting times lengthened. There were times when we just wanted to socialize rather than to maximize the intent of the group. We got lazy too often.

- Accountability was inconsistent. Breaking of monthly promises and agreements occurred. I suggested weekly calls or emails to stay on track. The other members declined to add additional accountability.

As I read over this article, I realize that there were more things about the group that wasn't working for too long. Staying together had become too comfortable. We allowed our progress to be acceptable rather than challenging us to be our best.

I'm in the process of organizing a new group of six to begin in the New Year. I'm so excited!