Are you feeling lethargic managing your business? Or perhaps you know that you need to do something in order to drive your business up and on, but do not know where and how to start? Is all that you can see ahead of you a dark, gloomy and never-seem-to-be-ending road?

Well your worries are over! We shall discuss the top ten ways which you can actually utilize to move ahead with your Mastermind group through collaboration with like-minded people and be that one step closer towards realizing your objectives!

Here is a summary of the top 10 ways.

1. Clarity of your Mastermind group’s objective.

2. Be positive and encouraging.

3. Imbue in your Mastermind group the feel-good factor.

4. Setting up an accountability structure.

5. Building trust and privacy.

6. Asking and receiving help.

7. Brainstorm to get an influx of great ideas.

8. Strength in numbers, quality and quantity.

9. Talking things out.

10.Contribute to receive more.

Clarity of your Mastermind group’s objective. Make it a point to go through in your mind the very objective for the existence of this Mastermind group, and note it down. Your objective serves to concentrate the mind and the focus of your group right. With that the results will follow, otherwise your group could be languishing in mediocrity and not progressing.

Be positive and encouraging. This is done by...the words you use which effectively set the tone for the whole Mastermind meeting. Be positive and encouraging and at the same time show your Mastermind members that you care. While we are ruling out outright flattery here, complimentary words as well as gestures to show the appreciation that you have for your group members will not go unnoticed and will go a long way towards ensuring a harmonious and united mastermind group.

Imbue in them the feel-good factor. Following that up is the need to remind group members about the positives that could be drawn from the last meeting, so as to imbue in them the feel-good factor. This point should not be underestimated because when a person is in the right frame of mind, then chances are that person will be extremely productive and be able to provide a free flow of useful ideas throughout the meeting. And if you manage to spread it to the whole group and you thus generate many "positive frames of mind", imagine what you can get out of the meeting!

Setting up an accountability structure. Having a system in place is vital to ensuring your group does not stagnate. Many a times the full potential of a Mastermind group is not able to be harnessed due to the small matter of accountability. During the mastermind meeting itself, ideas abound and many suggestions are made but who is to ensure who does what? The person offering the idea might not be willing to get down to sorting out the nitty-gritty of the issue at hand, and responsibilities start to be pushed among members. This causes friction and over the long hauls results in tension brewing among members which will certainly not aid your cause. Hence, have a structure in place to ensure no one shirks responsibility and everyone does his/her part.

Building trust and privacy. The basic ingredient needed for any successful Mastermind group is for members to trust one another. And how do we foster trust within the group, whose members may hail from a diversity of backgrounds? Well, we aim to build lasting relationships over the long run. To do this, there must be complete honesty and absolute clarity in communication among members. This sets the foundation for the group to be taken to a whole new level in terms of the intangible factor that is trust. Oh, and always be prepared to listen to what others have to say, no matter how trivial or seemingly irrelevant that opinion may be. Everyone wants to be heard.

Asking and receiving help. As you work on that, do not forget that you are here in a Mastermind group not only to give but to receive as well. Share any problems that you might have come across since the end of the last meeting as well as any help you would like to receive. Do not be afraid to ask. There is no harm in asking. Failure only occurs when people keep their problems inside of them and do not request for help. Once you have established some form of rapport or other with your group members, you will find that they are more than willing to lend a helping hand.

Brainstorm to get an influx of great ideas. Once you have mustered up the courage to ask for help, expect to have lots of ideas and suggestions from your group members to work with. There will be ideas being bandied about and this is where the real brainstorming starts. Do not judge any suggestion offered by your group members by brandishing them as "impractical" or "not workable". Simply jot all the ideas down and you will soon find that you have a stack of ideas to work with. You can then slowly discard those you feel are not feasible. In this way, there is a higher chance of you solving your problem, when you learn to become less judgmental.

Strength in numbers, quality and quantity. As mentioned above, the advantages of sharing your problems with your Mastermind group are clear for all to see. You will be astounded by the number of solutions you now possess, and you will find that some of these are not what you have thought of should you be pondering over the problem alone. There is strength in numbers. Pool the resources you have with that of your members and you will find that it will go a long way towards helping you with your current plight.

Talk things out. Maintaining the harmonious nature of the group is vital in creating the magic. Be frank and honest in talking things out, even though it may cause awkwardness and result in people feeling uncomfortable. Unhappiness of any sort that is bottled inside you and then allow it to manifest itself into a form will cause irreparable damage to relations between you and other members of your group in the future. Do not allow this to happen to your group. Get everything out of your system, be it nice or unpleasant, but of course make sure you do that in a tactful manner. You do not want to hurt anybody's feelings with a misguided comment. That way, everyone can then move on.

Give before you receive. Everyone has his/her own purpose in joining a Mastermind group. Think about it this way, should everyone give right from the start, then everyone would be receiving in one way or other right? It does not matter who gives first. As long as you are willing to give, you will definitely receive. Translated into reality, this theory can be construed as follows: Should you be willing to help your group members by going the extra mile to ensure that their needs are met, you can be assured that when the time comes to doing the honors for you, your group members will put in the same amount, if not even more effort for you.

Above are the top ten ways for you to use your Mastermind group to move ahead. If you find that the progress of your group is mired in mediocrity and would like to improve its fortunes, would you like to take on this challenge and use the tips above to inspire your group to scale greater heights and achieve even more success than never before? The choice is yours.

Copyrights © 2006

Alex Cheong @ http://www.mastermind-your-way-to-success.com

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