Common Challenges Managing a Business Mastermind Group
Experienced and proficient moderators make managing a business mastermind group appear effortless.
The reality is, it is not effortless.
The hardest time is right before and during the meeting. It is here where most of the chaos happens. Chaos comes from not anticipating how each member will show up for the meeting mentally and unexpected challenges that only reveal themselves the moment everyone arrives.
Chaos takes on many forms no matter how organized you are for the meeting. You cannot predict a member's last-minute cancellations. Cancellations can have a major impact when that particular member was either hosting or presenting that day. This can leave you with a big hole in the agenda. You also cannot predict the countless last-minute texts of members running late or forgetting the meeting even though you sent multiple reminders. You cannot predict the member that suddenly breaks down emotionally because something bad happened to the business or them personally just the night before. You cannot predict the member who is always happy and supportive that suddenly is silent and withdrawn.
What you can predict is uncertainty.
The key to managing your stress is to prepare how you will handle it when “things happen.” While it might not be pleasant when it happens, you will at least be ready with a plan on how to handle it. That alone will reduce your stress level and give you the confidence to maneuver into a successful outcome.
Let’s talk about what you can expect to happen in your tenure as a moderator running a business mastermind group.
Managing a Business Mastermind Group: An Insider’s Take
Anticipating possible situations can eliminate many challenges from happening. Noticing behaviors that manifest and addressing festering issues quickly is always the preventative method to block bigger issues from developing.
The top common moderator challenges are: Not being prepared. The definition of being prepared for a good meeting is:
Having a structured, well thought out agenda that the members will get value from that builds on former meetings
Reminders. Being sure all members are reminded of the meeting location, time, and actions they committed to
Plan for the unexpected. Food being late, technology not working, bad weather.
Lack of agreed-to expectations. If you don’t push for excellence and lead by example, neither will the members. Low expectations create poor behavior, such as members not taking accountability seriously, not showing up without letting you know in advance, etc. Common courtesy should be expected. The group also should decide on what they will accept and not accept as guidelines of behavior, expectations with attendance, and basic norms for interacting. This becomes a charter for the group to commit to and all future members.
Becoming blindly complacent. Taking your members for granted. They will not always be there; they will not love every meeting. They all have areas of improvement or ideas of what they would like to see differently. After years of being a member, you might think they will be there for life. Especially if you have become closer to them personally, remember they are paying you for an experience, a service. They change, and they evaluate every meeting if their time was worth the time they spent. Make sure the answer is always yes.
Underestimating the importance of the agenda. Don’t take meeting preparation lightly. Doing the agenda last minute will not produce the best meetings. Ideally, do your next meeting’s draft agenda right after the meeting when your ideas are fresh in your mind. And you have time to prepare others, if need be, before the next meeting.
Have a relevant backup agenda item in case you need to fill in time because of a cancellation
Not having discipline and respect. Don’t take the hard work of disciplinary conversations or confronting bad behavior because it takes effort, and you think it won’t happen again, or worse, that no one noticed. Addressing rudeness, tardiness, unkindness, unprofessionalism, etc., should not be confrontational. It can certainly be done with the same kindness you expect them to display to each other. Respect is a two-way street, and a common mindset is the moderator doesn’t think they deserve the same respect in behavior as their members. But you do. It is essential to address all undesired behavior immediately. The longer you go, the harder to correct.
Not being flexible, sticking with the same routine. The meetings get stale. Changing up the meeting is sometimes necessary to keep them on their toes and stimulate different thinking and energy. Sometimes simply changing the agenda around, holding the meeting in a different setting, doing an activity, or having a retreat in place of the regular meeting. Take a tour of a company everyone admires. There are many options to “change it up.”
Bring innovation and best practices to your members. Enhancing your agenda, adding a new template, a new format, a different speaker, or suggest a book to learn new concepts and discuss a chapter in the meeting.
Not being transparent. As a moderator, you lead by example. Not exemplifying openness, empathy, accountability, and most of all vulnerability will help most times cap your group at the same level as you.
Stop learning and innovating. If you stop learning, then your relevance becomes less and less to your group. It will make it harder to recruit as well as retain members. No one wants to be part of something “outdated” or not in tune with new thoughts. Be a thought leader or deliver thoughts of those leaders. What you can contribute matters. This also means challenging your group to up their game. To step it up, push beyond their comfort zone. It’s the only way they will grow so their company will grow.
Conflict of interest with the members. This means two things—conflict of interest between members and conflict of interest between members and you. Members can develop conflicts with other members either with how they think or develop a business idea similar to other members. Member-moderator conflict happens when your business model of what is best for you and is not aligned with what is best for the member. An example is bringing on a non-qualified member that is not a right fit for the group because you want the revenue, but they will not be of value to the members already in the group. Saying no to someone who wants to be a member can be hard to turn down but having the quality of the group degraded is worse.
Inability to pivot quickly. Most times, the agenda, as is, never happens. Why? As the meeting evolves, discussions occur that you cannot plan for. They are discussions that happen only when the air in the room opens up and allows them to develop and happen organically. Don’t force an agenda on the members to follow it. As opportunities arise to have rich conversations and continue the important dialogue, gauge your member's needs and desires. Either continue the discussion or move on to what’s next. Don’t be so rigid that mechanically you’re following the motions versus orchestrating the ebb and flow of the meeting.
What Causes Burnout When Running a Group?
You might not think burnout can occur when running a mastermind group but it can and does so frequently after many years. Why? Often you will feel exhausted after running a meeting. That is because your brain represents just 2% of your total body mass but uses 20% of your body’s energy in a typical day. The brain's primary function — processing and transmitting information through electrical signals — is costly in energy use. Running a mastermind meeting uses a lot of brainpower in managing the meeting structure, verbal and non-verbal cues, emotions, timing of discussions while thinking on your feet at all times.
Can you be in control of burnout? Yes, most of the list below can be avoided when you do the right thing upfront and address situations quickly. The top reasons for burnout are:
Always being on point. During the meeting, it is normal to feel you have to be at your peak at all times without a break. That is why after a meeting, take time to relax, do a different activity, reward yourself for a meeting well done. It would be best if you had a break to decompress and reflect on what went well and what to do differently next time.
Not having fun. This is also important to build a bond. You must have fun, and it is not be all work and no play. Have fun with the members socially as a group, enjoy lunch or a coffee with them one on one. Encourage laughter and bantering in the meeting. They need to have fun as much or more than you.
Being surprised. No matter how in-tune you are with each member, you will be surprised when members last-minute cancel a meeting with you or cancel attending their meeting suddenly, are no shows with no notice, etc. Then when you try to follow up and they do not return calls, texts, or emails. It means something is wrong, which could turn out to be nothing or something. Rule of thumb: anytime your gut triggers a thought that something could be wrong, find out if it's valid. Don’t discount that feeling.
Excessive turnover. Having a series of turnovers can be disappointing and disheartening. It’s never pleasant to lose a customer. In this case, your members know each other and impact each other's experience. So, losing a member can have multiple negative chains of events. To prevent a bad chain reaction, secure existing members, manage the transition of the member leaving, and sell a new right-fit prospect as fast as possible.
Absent accountability. Ask the members what level and type of accountability they desire. And then not adhering to making it happen. The members should report and take responsibility for doing what they say, commit to it, and follow through.
Not setting Expectations. Create together a charter for the group that contains agreed-to norms. A charter is a set of guidelines the group determines are important to follow to have a high functioning group. They don’t have a vision or a path to what their ultimate role can be with no guidelines.
Doing a lot of 1:1’s. The easiest way to over-schedule your time and be over-committed and frazzled is to do a one-on-one meeting with each member every month. It becomes a scheduling challenge with last-minute juggling requests that quickly you will be inefficient with your time and output. These are not necessary unless you are being paid to be an executive coach. And if so, they should be paid appropriately for that and appropriately for them being a member of your mastermind group. Don’t mix the two as a package for participating in a group. You won’t get paid accordingly for your time and expertise.
Members being late, leaving early. Allowing this behavior, unless warranted, is the most disruptive of a meeting. As a moderator, if it’s not addressed, you will have to manage the meeting to be shorter, not end properly, and be receptive to bring members up to speed for what they missed.
Doing it all yourself without member help. Members should help give referrals or testimonials so you can attract the best fit for the group. That is in their best interest to do that. If you are doing all the heavy lifting with prospecting and selling with excessive turnover, it will feel like being a hamster on a wheel. You will also want to train your members to lead by example, so it's not always you as the moderator. For example, asking another peer member for a status update versus you asking the member for a status. Idea accountability is between the members as peers vs. you and the members.
Doing it all yourself without administrative help. Always consider what the highest and best use of your time is. Doing the things that are not your strong points: detailed work, scheduling, meeting logistics, etc., will drain your energy. Keep your energy for your members and the meeting.
What Happens if a Member Wants to Leave the Group?
Understanding why a member wants to leave the group is important to learning information in preventing it from recurring. Please find out how long they have been thinking about leaving. Is it a sudden decision, or has it been on their mind for some time? Is it because of circumstances they are not in control of? Determine if the reason is valid or something you can fix. Maybe it's temporary and short-term. If the reason is valid, it's important they exit the group professionally and in-person and ensuring that confidentially remains, and publicly thank the group for their help and guidance.
Another Person Run Your Mastermind or Peer Group?
The beauty of running your mastermind group is you can transfer it and keep ownership or sell it. You have choices. But only if you set it up correctly. Another person can run your Mastermind group if one rule is adhered to. That is, if the focus is always on the group. It has to be about them and not about you. It’s not if you can answer the question better than them or share your expertise first. If about you, then no, another person cannot run your mastermind group.
How do you get a good person to run your mastermind group? The person has to be perceived as possibly more talented than you in business. Their talent should have synergies with you or be of a background complementary to the group. As long as they have one trait or skill set that you do not, the group will believe the transition is an upgrade. A best practice is to deliberately find something relevant to immediately add value to the group by showcasing an area of their expertise.
While there are many challenges to running a business mastermind group, there are more rewards. By managing these challenges, you can ensure the benefits remain intact, so you reap the rewards by doing this important work that positively impacts many lives.
