Mastermind meeting rhythm: agenda and hot seats

The same agenda every session

A mastermind is a small group of peers who help each other with real problems. The facilitator's job is to keep the format and the time, not to teach. Every session follows the same 90 minutes, so you spend your energy on each other's problems, not on working out the meeting.

The agenda: 1. Check-in round, 15 minutes: each member gives a one- to two-minute update on progress, wins and anything urgent. 2. Hot seat 1, 40 minutes: the member presents for 10, the group asks clarifying questions for 10, then gives ideas and feedback for 15, and the member closes with what they'll do in 5. 3. Break, 5 minutes. 4. Hot seat 2, 25 minutes: the same steps, shorter: 7, 5, 10 and 3. 5. Commitments round, 5 minutes: everyone states one specific thing they'll do before the next session.

Two rules keep it working. The presentation stops on time, because when it runs long the ideas get squeezed, and the ideas are why you're here. And the group speaks before the facilitator does.

Ground rules and the rotation

Session 1 is for trust. You'll introduce yourselves, agree the ground rules, and hear one hot seat on a problem that matters but isn't the hardest one you have. Members bring hard problems once they trust the room.

Start from three ground rules and add your own: what's said in the group stays in the group; no selling to each other; bring real problems, not polished success stories.

The rotation is fixed at the start so no one has to ask for the floor: one hot seat in session 1 and two in each of sessions 2 to 6, eleven slots in all. Everyone gets one. If the group is smaller than ten, the spare slots go to members who want a second hot seat, agreed in session 1. If you can't make your session, swap your slot with another member and tell the facilitator before the week starts.

Member introduction

1. Who are you, and what do you do? Two or three sentences, as you'd say them in the room.
2. What do you want from this group over the next six weeks?
3. What can you offer the other members? (Experience, contacts, skills, a point of view.)
4. What's one goal you'll work on during these six weeks? Make it something you can finish or measure.
5. What's one ground rule you want the group to keep, beyond the three in the lesson?
6. Which session would you like for your hot seat? Give a first and a second choice from sessions 1 to 6.

Before session 1

• Fill in your member introduction
• Put all six sessions in your calendar
• Read the agenda once, so you know what each block is for
• Choose your first and second choice of hot seat session
• Prepare a two-minute introduction from your worksheet

Session 1: introductions, ground rules, first hot seat

90 minutes. Introductions, 20: each member gives two minutes from their introduction worksheet. Ground rules, 10: start from the three in the lesson, add the members' own, and agree them out loud. Hot seat 1, 40: on a lower-stakes problem, with the four steps of the agenda. Break, 5. Rotation and commitments, 15: confirm who has which hot seat slot, pair members as accountability partners, and each member states one commitment for next week.

You add this call once the Events app is on the program: see “Then add the six weekly sessions” below.

How to bring a hot seat

A good hot seat starts with one question you'd like the group's help with: a decision you're facing, a problem you've tried to solve and haven't, or a plan you want tested. "Should I hire a second salesperson now or in six months?" works. "Help me with my business" doesn't.

You have ten minutes to present, so plan them. Say your question first, then the context the group needs: the numbers, the people involved, what you've already tried and what happened. End by telling the group what kind of help you want: questions that make you think, ideas, people to talk to, or a straight opinion.

During the ideas, listen and write. Don't defend or explain each idea as it comes; you can ask about any of them at the end. Then close by saying the one thing you'll do next, and by when. The group will ask about it at the next check-in.

Hot seat prep

1. Which session is your hot seat in?
2. Write your question in one sentence.
3. Why does it matter now? What happens if you don't decide or act?
4. What context does the group need? List the facts, numbers and people involved.
5. What have you already tried, and what happened?
6. What kind of help do you want: questions, ideas, people to talk to, or a straight opinion?
7. What would a useful outcome from your hot seat look like?

Week 2 check-in

1. Did you do what you committed to at the last session? (1 = not at all, 5 = fully)
2. What did you do, and what got in the way?
3. How much progress did you make on your six-week goal this week? (1 = none, 5 = a lot)
4. If you had a hot seat at the last session, what one action are you taking from it, and by when?

Session 2: two hot seats

90 minutes, on the full agenda. Check-in round, 15: each member reports on their commitment from session 1, using their check-in. Hot seat 1, 40, and hot seat 2, 25, for the two members on the rotation. Commitments round, 5. Before the close, the facilitator reminds the next two members of their slot.

You add this call once the Events app is on the program: see “Then add the six weekly sessions” below.

Questions before ideas

Most of your hot seats are someone else's. What you do in them decides how good the group is.

In the clarifying questions, ask to understand, not to steer. "What does the client say when you raise the fee?" is a question. "Have you thought about raising the fee?" is advice wearing a question mark: save it for the ideas. Ask about what's missing from the story: numbers, people, what they've already tried, what they're afraid of.

In the ideas, speak from experience, not from theory. "When I had the same choice, I hired early and it cost me six months of margin" is more useful than "You should hire early". Keep each contribution short so everyone has room, and don't repeat an idea someone else has already given; say "I agree with that" and add only what's new.

Facilitators: hold each step to its time, invite the quiet members by name in the ideas round, and give your own view last, if at all.

How I help in a hot seat

1. Think back to the last hot seat. Write one clarifying question you asked, or one you wish you'd asked.
2. Was it a real question, or advice in the form of a question? If it was advice, rewrite it as a question.
3. What experience of your own could help the next hot seat member? Write it as a short story: what you faced, what you did, what happened.
4. In the ideas round, do you tend to say too much or too little? What will you do differently at the next session?

Week 3 check-in

1. Did you do what you committed to at the last session? (1 = not at all, 5 = fully)
2. What did you do, and what got in the way?
3. How much progress did you make on your six-week goal this week? (1 = none, 5 = a lot)
4. If you had a hot seat at the last session, what one action are you taking from it, and by when?

Session 3: two hot seats

90 minutes, on the full agenda. Check-in round, 15. Hot seat 1, 40, and hot seat 2, 25. In both, the facilitator points out any advice that comes as a question and asks for it again in the ideas step. Commitments round, 5.

You add this call once the Events app is on the program: see “Then add the six weekly sessions” below.

Commitments that get done

A week is long enough for a commitment to slip. Three habits stop that.

Make each commitment specific: what you'll do, by when, and how the group will know it's done. "Work on sales" isn't a commitment. "Send the new proposal to two clients by Thursday" is.

Message your accountability partner midweek: one line on where your commitment stands, and one question if you're stuck. Reply to theirs within a day. It takes two minutes and it's often the reason the commitment gets done.

Report honestly at the check-in round. If you didn't do it, say so and say what got in the way. The group can only help with what you tell them, and a missed commitment followed by a smaller next step is still progress.

This week with your accountability partner

• Write your commitment from the last session in one sentence: what, by when, how the group will know
• Send it to your accountability partner
• Midweek, send your partner one line on where it stands
• Reply to your partner's midweek message within a day
• Fill in your check-in before the next session

Week 4 check-in

1. Did you do what you committed to at the last session? (1 = not at all, 5 = fully)
2. What did you do, and what got in the way?
3. How much progress did you make on your six-week goal this week? (1 = none, 5 = a lot)
4. If you had a hot seat at the last session, what one action are you taking from it, and by when?

Midpoint pulse

1. How useful are the sessions for you so far? (1 = not at all, 5 = very)
2. How well is the agenda keeping to time? (1 = not well, 5 = very well)
3. How useful is your accountability partner? (1 = not at all, 5 = very)
4. What's one change that would make the last two sessions more useful?

Session 4: two hot seats and a reset

90 minutes, on the full agenda. Check-in round, 15. Hot seat 1, 40, and hot seat 2, 25. In the commitments round, 5, the facilitator shares the midpoint pulse answers and the group agrees on one change for sessions 5 and 6.

You add this call once the Events app is on the program: see “Then add the six weekly sessions” below.

After your hot seat

A hot seat is only useful if something happens after it. Within a day, read your notes and choose one idea to act on first: the one that is most likely to move your question forward, not the one that is easiest.

Turn it into your commitment for the next session, and tell the group at the check-in what you did and what happened. If you tried an idea and it didn't work, say that too. The group learns as much from what failed as from what worked, and it tells them what to suggest next time.

Thank the members whose ideas you used, by name, at the check-in. It tells the group their help landed.

Hot seat follow-up

1. Which session was your hot seat in, and what was your question?
2. List the ideas and questions from the group that stayed with you.
3. Which one idea are you acting on first, and why that one?
4. What's your first step, and by when?
5. What happened when you acted on it? (Fill this in before your next check-in.)
6. What will you tell the group at the check-in?

Week 5 check-in

1. Did you do what you committed to at the last session? (1 = not at all, 5 = fully)
2. What did you do, and what got in the way?
3. How much progress did you make on your six-week goal this week? (1 = none, 5 = a lot)
4. If you had a hot seat at the last session, what one action are you taking from it, and by when?

Session 5: two hot seats

90 minutes, on the full agenda. In the check-in round, 15, members who have had their hot seat say what they acted on and what happened. Hot seat 1, 40, and hot seat 2, 25. Commitments round, 5.

You add this call once the Events app is on the program: see “Then add the six weekly sessions” below.

Keep the rhythm after six weeks

By now every member has had a hot seat and the group runs on its agenda without anyone reading it out. Keep what works.

Every two weeks suits most groups, so after a first run like this one many move to that rhythm. It gives members more time to act on commitments, and it's easier to keep up than a weekly 90 minutes. Keep the same agenda, plan a new rotation before the first session so every member knows their slot, and keep the accountability partners, or swap them so members get to know someone new.

Look back before you decide: what each member set out to do, what changed, and what they want from the next round.

Six-week review

1. What was your six-week goal, and where does it stand now? Fully, partly or not yet.
2. What did you act on from your hot seat, and what happened?
3. Which other member's hot seat taught you the most, and what did you take from it?
4. What did your accountability partner do that helped?
5. What would you change about the agenda or the rotation for the next round?
6. Do you want to keep meeting? If yes, how often: every week or every two weeks?

Final check-in

1. Did you do what you committed to at the last session? (1 = not at all, 5 = fully)
2. How useful has this group been for you over the six weeks? (1 = not at all, 5 = very)
3. How likely are you to keep meeting with this group? (1 = not at all, 5 = very)
4. What's the one thing from these six weeks you'll keep doing?

Session 6: two hot seats and the review

90 minutes. Check-in round, 10. Hot seat 1, 25, and hot seat 2, 25, both in the shorter format. Break, 5. Review, 25: each member shares where their goal stands and one thing they learned, from their six-week review. The group decides whether to keep meeting, how often, and when the next rotation is planned.

You add this call once the Events app is on the program: see “Then add the six weekly sessions” below.