HOW TO CREATE YOUR INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT GROUP – PART 3: SUCCESS TEAM
What you’ll get out of this article:
- ingredients of a good success team
- knowledge of the benefits of a success team
- a protocol of the three phases of a success team meeting
What is a success team?
A success team is a group format that creates a regular supportive structure for its members to help them realise their mid-term and long-term goals. A team ideally consists of five people. It is generally a good idea to aim at a variety of professional backgrounds and personalities, diverse age groups, gender, ethnicity etc. More diversity means more varied perspectives and input. These help us leave our bubble and overcome obstacles.
Success teams, like Masterminds, are sometimes offered by incubators or coaches. The Berlin Gründerinnenzentrale, for example, regularly organises success teams for women who want to found their own company. Participation fee here is very low (only 40,- Euros), because the ESF takes over a large part of the costs. Private coaching offers can cost several thousand euros.
The problem: neither one nor the other might appeal to you. Perhaps you are not interested in starting your own company or becoming self-employed. Maybe a couple of thousand euros are way out of your budget zone.
Here’s the good news: It is not only possible but also extremely empowering to start your own success team – for free.
The only ingredients you need:
- 5 people (including yourself) who want to achieve something
- a quiet place where you can meet once a month or once a week, depending on your preferences
- commitment
- reliability
- disciplined timekeeping and focus
The group’s purpose is to give new impulses, to inspire, to motivate and to increase every member’s commitment to reach their goals. The group is non-hierarchical and every member contributes with their individual skills and experience.
What purpose does it serve?
- higher commitment and accountability through regular meetings
- empathetic support in each other’s endeavours
- professional exchange
- benefiting from each other’s networks
- motivation through emotional lows
- external appreciation and acknowledgement of your achievements
By the way, here’s an example of something I have achieved thanks to my success team. I challenged myself to post a video clip of myself on LinkedIn. This is one of the many steps I think are useful to take on my route to producing an online course – but that I also find difficult for various reasons. I had to overcome many obstacles, some of which I talk about in this clip:
How does a success team work?
Here’s the protocol.
The meetings take place regularly. I recommend monthly meetings, but weekly or bi-weekly can work well, too. It makes sense to agree on a minimum period of time beforehand, to increase commitment. In my view, a success team should commit to meeting for a period of at least six months.
Members take turns with the facilitation role. They could also take turns hosting the meeting. Unless you decide on a virtual meeting format, which also works well.
One meeting session takes 2,5 hours, with 25 minutes granted to every member.
After a trial session, participation is mandatory, meaning that cancellations due to sickness or other impediments are rare and communicated reliably.
A session consists of three phases:
- Introduction
Inform each other where you’re at, what steps you have taken since your last meeting and what you would like to talk about this time. (3 min/person)
- Support and feedback
Elaborate on your question. Specify the kind of feedback you’d like to receive: advice, consolation, critical questions, sharing of experience, … (15-20 min/person)
- Goal until next meeting
Share your goal and commit to it. (2min/person)
