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As a practice management consulting firm, my team and I support financial advisory professionals across the country.
We get to see the good, bad, ugly and inner workings of all size teams. One question that consistently surfaces in our network is, ‘how effective is a study group and should I join or create one?’
If this brings back memories of your school days, it’s comparable since a study group can be your best resource in moving you forward as an advisory professional just as the school group helped you prep for and successfully pass that exam.
5 Top Benefits of Forming an Advisory Study Group
The genius of an industry specific study group of professionals versus the academic group in your formative years is the ongoing benefits received in these key areas:
As we enter Q4, there is no better time of the year to create, join or re-engage with a group to act as your strategic catalysts for year-end planning and forecasting for the new year.
At the very least, share these best practices with your group to refresh and recharge your collaboration and gain renewed momentum.
In the words of Stephen Covey, let’s focus on ‘sharpening the saw’ by examining the fundamentals most vital to creating a successful and committed mastermind study group.
What is a Mastermind Group?
Napoleon Hill shares with us in the classic financial book, Think and Grow Rich, “The Master Mind may be defined as, coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.”
To further define this concept, he paints the picture of multiple brains coming together to create increased energy, transferred to each individual, the incredible influence of one mind upon another and the power produced through the alliance of minds.
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How to Gain and Maintain Momentum
I’m in an independent advisory office on a regular basis to observe and analyze the current condition of the business, collect data and make recommendations for improvement. Most recently I was working with a team and found that several projects were “in progress” yet not moving forward because the team had not come together as a group to discuss. A timeout to review the outstanding items allowed the team to come to a consensus, move forward and celebrate a win.
What seems obvious to me in a solution is not so clear to the business owner, advisor or team member. The daily grind can cause you to be blind to the obvious solutions in front of you and slow your progress. By stepping out of your daily routine to connect the minds of your internal team or your external mastermind group is a period to stretch your mind and business in ways you could not do alone.
The commitment and cost of the time are the usual suspects for not joining a group or to even come together with your own team to slow down and focus internally. I challenge you to consider what is more costly in your effort for personal and business evolution – mastermind time or individual effort going down a rabbit hole and unrealized potential?
Just as Michael Gerber promotes in The E-Myth, working “on” your business, not just “in” your business is critical to designing exactly what you want. With your trusted masterminds you can step outside your comfort zone, have fun, build excitement and create accountability to reach new heights.
“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?” ― John Wooden
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What are the Elements of a Mastermind Group?
In the interest of time, keeping things simple and the well-known attention span of advisor professionals (wink, wink), here are several resources and guidelines to consider for your own mastermind group:
Ideal Study Group Elements:
Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA):
Rules for Responsible Membership:
Checklist for Formulating Your Advisory Study Group:
Hear from Your Peers – Advice from Current Mastermind Group Members
More importantly than hearing from me is hearing directly from advisors that are currently in a fruitful mastermind advisory study group. We took the time to interview four of our advisors to get their feedback to bring you real-world application.
I think you will enjoy their perspective and insight to help determine if this kind of group is for you. Here’s what they had to say .
Conclusion & Questions to Consider
Speaking from my own entrepreneurial experience, it can be the loneliest profession if you don’t put yourself into the midst of collective genius to get advice, share ideas, borrow brainpower and to give back to others what you have gleaned. There is something about being part of a group that lights the fire under your feet to get you going.