Mastermind groups can be an essential part of leadership development. The value of these groups is enormous, and when you unlock the benefits of a mastermind group, you can quickly grow your HR career.
What Is a Mastermind Group?
A mastermind group is a place where similarly-situated individuals come together on a regular basis for a combination of brainstorming, education, peer accountability, and development. The meetings are often led by a professional facilitator or they may be a more informal gathering of peers. Two of the main benefits of a mastermind group are that it helps members achieve individual success and helps the group sharpen their collective skills.
Boost your #HR career by joining a #mastermind group! Here are 10 compelling reasons why you should join one today.
In human resources, our issues are rarely black and white. While compliance plays a role in decision making, there are generally a number of ways to solve any given situation.
Further, in small HR departments, it can often feel like every new initiative is starting from scratch. This is where a mastermind group can have great benefit. A mastermind group can help with brainstorming, idea checking and learning about already-proven techniques that work.
10 Benefits of a Mastermind Group
The benefits of a mastermind group can truly propel your HR career forward. Here are some of the main reasons you should consider joining one today.
- You belong to a group that ‘gets you.’
- You gain a valuable support network
- You have the opportunity to collaborate on key projects.
- You gain access to more ideas and alternate perspectives.
- You typically get access to outside subject matter experts.
- You hear and consider out-of-the-box opinions.
- You extend your professional network.
- You share resources with other HR professionals, so you won’t have to reinvent the wheel.
- You sharpen your business and personal skills.
- You are held accountable for your goals and commitments.
The benefits of a mastermind group strengthen as connections form by working with each other over long periods of time. Learning each other’s business, skill sets and strengths allows group members to provide feedback that is customized to the needs of each member.
Finding the Perfect Mastermind Group
The beauty of mastermind groups is that there are lots of variations, so finding one that fits your goals and needs is pretty simple. Mastermind groups can be formal or informal, professionally led or ad-hoc arrangements between business people.
One example of a type of mastermind is a group in Chicago that is completely volunteer-run and attendees come based on what works with their schedule. I attended the group in August, and they had over 100 attendees that evening! To enhance the benefits of the group, they have 6-8 attendees review their issues before the meeting. Then during the meeting, the group divides up to “work on issues” that relate to their area of expertise. At the end of the evening, each smaller unit reports back to the larger group. It’s a fascinating way to combine networking and mastermind issue processing at the same time.
Our HR Topics mastermind group serves as another example of how a mastermind can work. We have between 8 to 15 participants and our group meets virtually, using the video platform Zoom to come together at a regularly scheduled time.
Meeting virtually allows us to bring in people from across the country but still unlock the benefits of a mastermind group by allowing members to create a connection and interact during and between meetings. By doing this, they can become peer advisors and accountability partners. We also use a private Facebook group to allow members to ask questions between meetings and help nurture the development of the professional relationships.
Our next HR Mastermind Group starts on October 8, 2018. Applications are now being accepted and we’ll fill all of the seats by September 30th. Click the HERE to learn more.
A well-run mastermind group will have five key components for success:
- Regular updates on members successes and issues
- Issue processing as needed by members
- Periodic goal check-ins to ensure accountability
- Presentations from outsiders for added growth
- Relevant group updates to your field of practice
Groups that are professionally run have the advantage of the facilitator being responsible for tracking issues, goals and member needs. Your facilitator can also bring subject matter expertise to the table, thus adding value to your growth and development.
It is important to understand that there is a bit of commitment required when you join a mastermind group. Not only are you reaping the benefits of a mastermind group, but you are also partially ‘responsible’ for sharing those benefits with your fellow group members. Wherever you are in your HR career, you have unique perspectives and experiences that can help others.
As such, the mastermind group is a place to give, take, and contribute to the success of the group as a whole. By doing so, you can unlock the benefits of a mastermind group and catapult your HR career! Consider your goals, then find one that is right for you today.
The post 10 Ways to Unlock the Benefits of a Mastermind Group to Boost Your HR Career appeared first on HR Topics.
