You know the feeling you get after attending a great conference?  You are energized, optimistic, and inspired.  You’ve heard from experts in the field, made awesome new connections with industry professionals, and generated tons of ideas for improving things back home.  You’ve highlighted your notes and ordered a whole new library of recommended books from Amazon.

But, then, you go home.  You get back to the office and find a ton of new emails that must be dealt with immediately.  Your boss has another new pet project that he wants you to lead.  One of your team members is out sick and now a critical element of your current project is delayed.  A customer calls with a product quality issue and you’ll need to travel to the manufacturing site to address it.  And there are a half dozen reports waiting on your desk for review and approval.

The elated feelings from the conference evaporate.

It Can Be Different

What if it could be different?  What if you could really apply the energy and optimism of new knowledge?  What if you could inject new ideas to grow your innovation programs and see immediate results?

IT CAN BE DIFFERENT!  You can sustain the good feelings, inspiration, and motivation that you get at a conference on a continuous basis.  Master Mind groups are a way to continually tap into the knowledge of other industry experts while still giving you time to work on the business of the day.  You can implement new ideas at regular intervals while tapping into the creative and collaborative problem-solving expertise of your own, personal “board of directors”.

What Is a Master Mind Group?

A master mind group is a facilitated body of like-minded professionals that support and encourage one another to achieve higher innovation goals.  A master mind group meets regularly (e.g. once a month) to share successes and to brainstorm answers to common new product development (NPD) and product management challenges.  A sample master mind group agenda can be found here. 

During every master mind session, each group member is in the “hot seat”.  The hot seat is a time to bring forward a pressing innovation question and to tap into the collective knowledge of your cohort.  Because the master mind group members share similar challenges and professional goals, we collaborate together to find potential solutions to each NPD issue.  Every member commits to one action to achieve his or her goal and reports at the next meeting.  It’s like an ongoing professional conference where you can sustain inspiration and motivation on a continuous basis.

Who is a Candidate for a Master Mind Group?

Master mind group members must be willing to both give and receive help.  In the Innovation Master Mind (IMM), we ensure that no two members are in competitive positions so we can maintain confidentiality.  That’s one reason why I ask you to complete an application form.  IMM group members share a passion to improve innovation successes and to grow their leadership skills.  Your experience as a Chief innovation Officer, New Product Development Manager, or R&D Director allows you to provide insights to other group members who will, in turn, share their expertise to help you address your own innovation challenges.

Who is NOT Right for a Master Mind Group?

You must be a little bit vulnerable in a master mind group.  We each don’t know all the answers, but together we can devise a great path forward.  You must be willing to be open to sharing your own challenges and issues in NPD while at the same time be able to succinctly offer your own successful solutions to help others. 

You must be committed to showing up at every monthly meeting.  If you don’t you will lose the benefits of learning and sharing – just like coming home from a conference and getting buried in bureaucracy.  You must commit to taking action on your monthly goals.  You must actively participate in training and other offline support activities (like discussion forums and DiSC assessments).  Above all if you’re not committed to accelerating and improving innovation for yourself, your company, and your industry, you’re not a good fit for the IMM.  However, if you want to fully commit to setting goals, collaborating with other innovation professionals, and accelerating your new product development program – you’re a perfect fit for the master mind group!

Learn More

I want to help you achieve your strategic goals.  Join me in a pilot session of the Innovation Master Mind on 23 January 2019 from 1 to 3 pm Central Time.  If you want to increase the productivity of your teams in 2019, contact me for more information on Virtual Team Model and Situational Team Leadership.  I can be reached at info@simple-pdh.com or 281-280-8717.  I love helping individuals, teams, and organizations achieve their highest strategic innovation goals!

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