How To Prepare For Your Next Mastermind Hotseat + A Free Template!

(article updated 25/01/2017)

I accept previously answered the question, What is a Mastermind Grouping? and shared my excitement in the 27 Life-Irresolute Benefits of Joining a Mastermind Group.

But is this all hot air? And what makes a Mastermind Group actually succeed?

The skillful news is that it has been proven time and again that the benefits can be replicated... if some rules are observed.

The popularity of Mastermind groups over the past especially 20-odd years has led to quite a few best practices and standard structures emerging, both for the agenda of a Mastermind session every bit well every bit the roles and rules needed to run a grouping successfully.

Make sure that you do your homework and ostend that the Mastermind Group you plan to join is run accordingly to maximise your outcomes!

More...

1. The Hotseat is Core

The strongest value a fellow member gets out of being in a Mastermind group is the chance to exist in the Hot Seat. - Karyn Greenstreet, The Success Alliance

Probably the most foundational concept to the success of virtually mod Mastermind Groups is the "hotseat" (or "hot seat"):

During each session, 1 or several of the participants will be put in the hotseat one by 1, where the focus of the grouping is on them lone for a pre-adamant amount of time. We have found 20 to xxx minutes to be a practiced time per participant and each member of a Mastermind group should be in the hotseat monthly or at most every half dozen weeks.

The hotseat session follows a predetermined structure:

The person in the hotseat kickoff gives feedback on the main achievements since they were last in the hotseat. Focus hither is specifically on the commitments they made and what worked. Information technology is very important to note that information technology is ok to brag a bit and celebrate success together with the group. It reaffirms the feeling of success and provides inspiration to all attendees (including the person in the hotseat themselves).

Stumbling Blocks / New Challenges:

What did not work? Is at that place a new claiming or question that the participant wants help with / feedback for? It is of import that the person in the hotseat comes prepared and gives the others detailed groundwork to the issues and what was attempted already to solve the problem. Information technology is also important that he / she has already thought of why this problem / question is important, tried own answers and tin articulate how a successful resolution of the problem would look like or what it would achieve.

The training for a hotseat session hands takes half an hour or more and forces the participant in the hotseat to get clarity on the issue. Ideally the group should use a standard template that the hotseat occupants can fill in and distribute a few days before the Mastermind session so that all others can come prepared as well. This document is and then used as a basis for a group discussion during the hotseat to assist with this issue. Information technology serves as a focusing machinery, but also gives relevance to the group on a much deeper level than would be achieved when just talking nearly an arbitrary topic.

This section of the hotseat is the core of the Mastermind session and requires all members to actively focus, listen and then take function in the give-and-take. The group brainstorm creates ideas and solutions - ofttimes ones no individual would accept had on their ain - that is the Mastermind at work, transcending each individual.

Delight exercise also note that these discussions are not all moonshine and roses. Information technology's okay to disagree. If everyone always agrees, you might besides exist talking to yourself.

During this part, the participants are also allowed and even encouraged to challenge each other, ask tough questions and concur each other accountable for commitments that were fabricated and not held. This should be a robust discussion, but one ever needs to call up that all members are there to help each other grow and become (more) successful.

We have found that for at least this give-and-take part of a Mastermind session a video conferencing solution, where all participants can see each other, is highly recommended as the nonverbal communication between attendees does add together a smashing bargain to the discussion.

New Opportunities / Commitments:

The word will oft unearth new angles to attempt or even surface outright solutions. These should exist documented and the person in the hotseat should and so commit to new action steps or goals. 1 needs to clearly distinguish between deportment that tin can exist taken till the next Mastermind session and longer term goals. Information technology needs to be noted that ideally every participant should have merely 1 or at least the fewest possible number of longer term goals that they are working towards. Having too many will cause them to be all over the show and hands leading to bad multitasking every bit these goals are mostly in addition to the day-to-day work that still needs to go along.

The large goal so needs to be cleaved down into sub-goals that tin exist achieved ane by one – from Mastermind session to Mastermind session. Here the benefit of professional facilitation and the use of a standard framework can exist extremely benign to maximise the impact and guide the participants.

It is interesting how both, the person in the hotseat, as well as the other attendees, proceeds from this type of interaction. The i gets input on a specific issue they have, whilst the others become input on a topic they might besides grapple with or it helps them to prevent getting stuck with this or a similar consequence in the commencement place.

2. Follow a Standardised Agenda

The hotseat is the centrepiece of any Mastermind session, simply the rest of the agenda has likewise become quite standardised for optimum results. There are several possible formats and i needs to adopt the one that suits the type and structure of the group best.

We accept establish the following rough agenda to work extremely well for a 90 minute to two-hour session:

2-3x Hot Seat:

The chosen member will share details about their situation in the first few minutes. The other members of the group then have the opportunity to provide specific help and advice to this individual. Preparatory notes circulated in advance.

Session Topic:

Instead of i or 2 of the hotseats one tin can, by prior arrangement, include a specific topic. This is advised if at that place is a specific topic that comes up again and over again or one that many members jointly decided to become more info on. This tin be in the course of a free form discussion or presented by an internal or external speaker.

Epitomize and Goal Setting:

Each member (except the one(s) who were in the hotseat) updates the group on how they did accomplishing their goals from the previous meeting. The purpose here is not to go into likewise much detail or probe, but simply have that accountability of vocalizing out loud how they did.

At the finish of their turn they will then briefly state theirgoals for the period leading up to the side by side session.

Whilst a hotseat takes 20 to 30 minutes, this recap should not take more than three to five minutes per attendee and any possible discussion should be kept to a minimum.

An interesting fact that nosotros noted is that frequently the side by side steps for non-hotseat attendees are directly informed by one of the hotseat discussions - the "Mastermind" at work!

Admin / Hotseat Option:

All general admin of the group. The persons to sit in the hotseat at the next session are selected, and then they tin can come prepared with questions or concerns to bring before the grouping.

iii. Clear Role Resource allotment is Key!

Apart from the general attendees, a Mastermind group needs several other roles. In a paid-for group most or all will exist handled by the person or company who professionally facilitates the group.

Facilitator (Mandatory):

The facilitator is the undeniable primal role of whatever Mastermind group. Some people even report that up to xc% of groups without clear leadership/facilitation do fail. This is ane more reason why all the more than Mastermind groups are run by professional person facilitators. The facilitator has to keep the group together and facilitate the sessions. They need to handle group dynamics and individual members' needs and personalities. They do also serve every bit first point of contact for any dispute resolution.

The facilitator will have to be fully versed in using the underlying framework or model that the group uses and it will be beneficial if they are an expert on the topic of the group, especially if it is a topic-based or business group.

The role of the facilitator does not stop with the terminate of the meeting equally they practice need to assistance members ready and activity on their goals, track group fellow member progress and monitor intra-grouping discussions between sessions. They also need to come to all meetings fully prepared – they especially will take to accept engaged with the preparation documents of the hotseat occupants for that session.

Facilitation tin easily take one to two hours of actress work for every 60 minutes of Mastermind session.

Timekeeper (Optional):

This part can generally be handled by the facilitator, simply some groups find it benign to appoint another person to make certain that the calendar is adhered to. In this instance, the part is often also rotated between members – simply not 1 of the hotseat occupants in that meeting. This gives the facilitator the liberty to focus fully on the topic, especially during a hotseat debate.

Notation Taker (Highly Recommended):

Whilst every member should keep their ain notes and some private Mastermind groups have no central records, it is highly recommended that at least the main points of a hotseat also as the epitomize and goal setting are documented. This central record can and so also be used track progress over longer time or to review longer term plans and recurring issues. Many groups make certain that the facilitator is not at the aforementioned time the note taker and the note taker function may rotate. If the facilitator takes this function, then they will probably just take down the main points during the coming together and spend some time later on the meeting to compile the more detailed notes / minutes.

Moderator (When Needed):

More often than not the facilitator serves equally moderator of the group, but in instance of specifically hard or skillful topics or if there are disputes, then an external moderator might be needed for part of a meeting or fifty-fifty a set of sessions.

Coordinator/Organiser:

This role is tasked with scheduling the meetings and general group organisation and admin.

Other Components of Running a Successful Mastermind Group

The to a higher place three attributes are the crux of a Mastermind group and as such they took up the bulk of my article. There are, withal, a few other ones that should non be disregarded to make the grouping run smoothly:

4. Clear Rules:

As with any gathering of people information technology is imperative that all Mastermind groups adhere to a clear set of rules and regulations. This starts with joining a group and the criteria for adding additional members via a grouping mission to clear ground rules in terms of expectations of members and the running of the group. I piece of documentation that every group needs to take and that every member should explicitly concord to is some course of Non-Disclosure clause or understanding. The information shared in Mastermind groups is oftentimes of a highly personal and confidential nature and you do not desire to only bargain with this topic once a trouble occurs.

5. Preparation:

Every attendee has to prepare for every meeting.

A meetup without members arriving prepared will before long deteriorate into a chat room or social gathering and members will start getting disillusioned every bit they will non see any results. We already touched on the preparation a member has to do for their hotseat session and the grooming the facilitator does. All other members do likewise have to proceed track of the goals they committed to in a session and report dorsum on progress equally well as ready for the goal setting at the stop of the meetup. They should also report on special achievements.

half-dozen. Minutes & Recording:

As alluded to in the "note taker" function above, information technology is highly recommended that primal points of the coming together equally well equally the commitments of members are conspicuously minuted for future follow-up. The better and more organised the minutes, the easier the follow-through.

Many online vocalisation and video conferencing tools do offer the option to tape a meeting including any screen sharing. It is highly recommended to practise this for record purposes and later reviews, but especially too and so that members who miss a session can view it and grab up in their own time.

7. Communications Between Meetings:

One more important component of a Mastermind group is that communications are non just limited to the actual scheduled sessions. Members should be able to engage with each other on any multifariousness of topics at whatever time. This tin include anything that was discussed in the sessions, only likewise any other question or annotate they might have. Tools similar Google Groups, Slack, electronic mail groups or other advice mediums are platonic for such group discussions. Boosted to group communications, members are naturally also free to engage one-on-1.

To Sum It Upward...

Existence part of a well run Mastermind group can be anigh fulfilling and, equally reported by many participants, fifty-fifty life-changing experience, but the converse is also truthful. If you should consider joining a Mastermind grouping, practice yourself a favour and make certain that the organiser(s) / facilitator(s) take done their homework and if possible have themselves at least been function of a successful grouping. It would be fifty-fifty meliorate if they have run or are running other Mastermind groups. If then, endeavor to speak with other participants who can vouch for their quality.

If you have war stories to tell yourself or accept other tips and tricks that you would like to share, delight feel complimentary to comment beneath the commodity or get in touch on with me directly.

And if you are an SME IT Leader, have a wait at our Information technology Leader Mastermind Groups.