Why MasterMind Groups Fail - Beejal Parmar

The concept of mastermind groups appeared first in a book Napoleon Hill wrote in 1937 called 'Think and Grow Rich'. In this book he explains mastermind groups to be groups of people who get together on a regular basis to talk about their challenges; be it business related or personal challenges. This is also where the concept of brain storming appeared, where a bunch of people would pool in their intellectual resources to arrive at insights or solutions to the posed challenge, where the wisdom of the collective would provide data of greater applied value that that of a single person. Though Napoleon Hill gave significantly clear directions on how to implement the mastermind concept, certain critical factors were not addressed, and these factors also happen to be the main reason why mastermind groups fail. These critical factors are three in number- leadership, agenda and actually showing up for the plan meets and each of these influences the other.
Leadership
For any group system to function effectively, it cannot function without direction, focus or anyone to implement the direction firmly. Leadership is critical for mastermind groups to work, even if it is a meeting of peers, one can take it further by emphasizing that having a vice president to step in when the leader is away, would also be essential. Having someone in charge to see to it that everyone shows up for the meets and sticks to the agenda will benefit in the survival and effectiveness of mastermind groups. Leaders need not always be leading sessions; they can shift as the agenda of the sessions shifts.
Agenda
Having people arrive at the meet but not having any specific to talk about beats the point of creating a mastermind group. For any mastermind group to work effectively, an agenda must be set for every meeting. A 'Hotseat' must be presented to the individual whose challenge will be the center of all discussion until met with plausible solutions, resources or new dimensions to the challenge. It is also helpful to have the group reference to a common document, this could be a book, an article, or any form of information, so that everyone is on the same page, and can progress together from there, keeping the sessions more focused and consequently more effective. If mastermind groups are adjourned weekly, then it is wise to keep one person's challenges or one topic of discussion standard for the entire week. Challenges should be tackled one at a time and not all at once, even though our busy schedules would be tempted to try to squeeze in as much as we can, but doing that doesn't serve the idea well. However if there is something of greater importance to be discussed immediately, then do ask for the mastermind group to make some time for those matters to be discussed.
Showing up
This is by far the biggest factor that leads to the failure of mastermind groups. In a world where time is money, people always have something popping up in their schedule the last minute. However if the idea is to really get the best out of what a mastermind group can offer, then situations must be created that suite everyone's schedules where the sacrifice is on the minimum. It is possible since there are many mastermind groups of extremely busy people who still manage to slip the sessions as part of their schedules, purely because they understand the value of these sessions. Showing up need not be face to face with the technological aids we have today.
Conclusion
In conclusion, mastermind groups will succeed if structured well and implemented with sincerity by setting leaders, a definitive agenda, where there is an individual on the hot seat whose challenges will be the focus of the discussion along with a common document that can reference to by the entire group and of course being present for all sessions live or virtually.

Beejal Parmar.

 Personality Success Blueprint.
Beejal Parmar facilitates several mastermind groups and retreats for entrepreneurs all around the world. Beejal Parmar is a speaker, author, business coach/consultant and mastermind facilitator. He specializes in helping his clients better understand their personality, how to match personality with the right opportunity, and how to evaluate objective timelines with personality.
To learn more visit http://PersonalitySuccessBlueprint.com

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