Guiding Members Through Their Journey: Unveiling the Seven Stages of Group Participation

Hello and welcome to Mastermind Mastery, the podcast for professionals who want to create and run successful peer advisory councils, or as we call them, PACs for short, or they're also known as peer groups or business mastermind groups. I'm your host, Tina Corner Stolz, founder of Elixir Council, where I've been in the industry running groups since 2005 and now help those like you with education, certification, and support wanting to do the same. At one time, I ran 10 groups, nearly 100 members, and sold my groups For a Good Multiple and recently released my second book, Your Seat at the Table: How to Create and Run Your Own Peer Advisory Councils, published by Forbes, and grateful to you that it's an Amazon bestseller. I invite you to join each week where we share strategies and techniques to successfully launch and become a master of running your PACTs. You'll hear insights, perspectives, do's and don'ts, learn from my and my guests' mistakes, successes, and get the inside track to key takeaways. Each time we have a guest, we'll be having a bit of fun. So are you ready? Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Mastermind Mastery. I'm Tina Corner Stolz, your host, and today's topic is member experience journey. What am I talking about? What I am talking about is I realized over all the years of running groups is that members go through their own journey in order to experience fully what being in a group is like, their journey starts from day one when they say yes, all the way through the years that they participate with you. They have a journey and their journey, okay, I believe has 7 stages. And I'm going to share with you today 2 of the stages of the 7. And those stages, okay, they will go through at their own pace. But let me give you an example. Here's the 7 stages. Those 7 stages: anticipation and hope. Stage 2, excitement and judgment. Stage 3, awareness, confirmation. Then they go through Stage 4, engagement, nurture. Stage 6, where they trust. That's optimized trust. And number 7, where they fully open up vulnerability finally to that level. Your goal is to get them through their stages as quickly as possible to the ultimate of vulnerability, but it's to get them through it in each of those stages effectively, efficiently. And again, every member will go through it at their own pace. Some will actually never reach that final stage. Of fully opening up and a level of vulnerability that you aspire every one of your members to get to. Each stage exists. The question is, is for how long? And I know that if you share these stages with your members and let them know what to expect and anticipate on their journey of being a member in your group, that it will eliminate stress, anxiety, uncertainty, etc., from your member and have them have a much better member experience so that when they hit a stage that's difficult, they don't bail from you. So what I realized is that when we would go through this member journey with a new member as part of their onboarding, And if, by the way, you don't do onboarding with your members, you're missing a huge, huge opportunity. I guess I should do a podcast just on that. So I will. I have to make a note of that. But it is the chance that you will let them know you're going to stumble here, you're going to stumble that, but when you get onto the other side of it, the reward is so much higher. And worth it for you that they won't come back to bail on you. So we realized that when we went through and created this member journey diagram, which is going to be available to all of you to download, that the retention rate not only went up, but also just the member experience and their happiness went up from the participation. And they were much more engaged quickly because they understood what their journey was going to be like. If you think about other things in your life, where wouldn't it have been nice to know that this is really what I'm going to go through to get to this? How much more comfortable you would feel instead of everything being a surprise. So think of it this way, you're going to eliminate the surprise, right, from your members. So today we're going to talk about the two, and I'm going to go through what every stage means, what to expect, and what to do about it with the member. And this way you can give thought as to, all right, the member is in stage 1, What can I do to help them through this in a very positive, supportive way? I hope today, if you're not doing onboarding, that you walk away with at least thinking about doing it. If you haven't had this conversation with your members, you do have it, particularly if you've been running groups for a long time and a new member comes in and let's say the majority of all the members in your group are at later stages, but that new member is obviously at the beginning stages. How is it that you kind of help bridge so that new member doesn't feel so far behind? So again, so we're going to talk a little bit about— so as we get started with stage 1, anticipation and hope, what does that mean? Right? Anticipation and hope. This is when it starts. The member signs their application with you. They have said yes. So when they have said yes, they're now anticipating a positive experience or they would've never said yes, right? So they anticipate and they have hope about what their participation is gonna help them accomplish as an owner, a senior leader, whatever it is that they do in their role, they have a vision of these are all these challenges and opportunities, and now I'm going to be able to get insights from my peers who knows really everything they're thinking about and what they're most nervous about. I don't know about you, but I've had members even be nervous about what to wear to their first meeting, how to dress, how much to prepare. All of that goes on in their head, but that doesn't mean they want to ask you that question because sometimes it seems silly and they just think, well, that's just— I'm not going to ask that, right? I don't want to look like I'm too vulnerable. So anticipation and hope. The member signs, right, their application. And because they anticipate an exceptional experience and hope again that you're going to solve with the group, their copys. They're optimistic about their decisions to join, right, your groups. They anticipate experience that's going to help solve all their problems, right, and capture opportunities. They expect to be with like-minded peers. So again, they are hoping and anticipating that the peers, if they haven't met them right, are really going to be their peers. They probably think they're so much smarter than them, they have had so much more success, and that actually they're not going to be worthy to be in the meeting. And there may be a little bit of imposter syndrome that's going to happen, and that will show up in stages to come. What to expect: compliance. So what can you expect from a brand new member, stage 1, who has this anticipation and this hope? It's a wonderful opportunity to get them to comply to everything you are wanting your members to do and that you expect through your guidelines that you have set, like being on time, right? Like interacting maybe between the meetings, like showing up with giving thought as to what they need from the group that day. Because they're unaware of the standard, they haven't experienced it yet, the members at this stage can be extremely cooperative. This is a dream for us. I think about this all the time. It's a huge, huge opportunity. They're on their best behavior. So what you're seeing here is their best behavior. It's like a first date. Right? So expect someone else to pop up later. That probably will happen. But while you got them on their best behavior, they're waiting for you to guide them through the process of deciding what to do and when to do it. Okay? So set that stage. Take advantage of their anticipation, their excitement, and their hope. It's a fantastic opportunity to develop healthy habits, such as preparing them for the meeting, responding to emails, doing their homework, whatever that might be. It's now time to properly express the standards and your expectations and what people can do to get the most out of their participation in your group, right? So take time to answer their questions and show them this journey. So when we go through, like, here's stage 1, stage 2, and again, this resource is going to be available to you to download. And if you have comments and everything, I want to encourage you to email me and I'll tell you this really quick right now at info@lxcounsel.com. But you absolutely tell them in advance, here's what you can expect. I'm here every step of the way. Your peers are here every step of the way. You're going to notice the peers down here in these further stages. You're going to get there. My goal is to help you get there fast. But it is a process, and you never skip a stage, by the way. And when you have that and you show them this journey and establish the tone for a long-lasting member experience, you are starting them off on the right foot of stage 1. And creating a wonderful member experience and bonding with them right out of the gate. So stage 1, right? Anticipation and hope. Because when they sign and they say yes, that's where they are. Okay? And you're going to acknowledge that. Stage 2. Stage 2, excitement and judgment. So what does this mean? I always find this stage interesting when I talk to others that are running groups because they don't even think about this, and that this is what's going through a new member's mind. This stage is when now they're coming to their first meeting. They're excited for their first meeting, and in some cases, their first meeting could be their orientation with you. So that's one thing to think about. So let's put in the bucket both. Orientation, that's their onboarding, and their very, very first meeting that they attend. So when they experience, right, orientation or onboarding with you, whatever you might call it, some of people might call it their kickoff meeting, etc., they're learning about the members, the meeting structure, the experience, that it's a match, it's what they thought. They're now kind of confirming, right, a little bit of like, yes, this is still a good decision for me, etc. And remember, anticipation and hope. So you want to keep that anticipation and hope coming through into this stage 2 of excitement and judgment. So they're still excited this stage, you know, they're thinking about all the possibilities still, but now you're beginning to transition that they're a new member and that you're connecting them with the relationships of the existing members. So they are connected to you most likely the most, right? Because they've had the most interaction with you, etc. You're now starting to develop that relationship with the other members. You're wanting them to meet the other members. You're wanting them to connect. Maybe they have been assigned a mentor, okay? Maybe they met over coffee, or they met your group just briefly, right? Before everybody made the decision that this is a good fit. So what do you expect in this stage first, and then what do you do about it? So excitement is the carryover of anticipation and hope because they're still excited. They haven't been to their meeting yet. But where does judgment come from? Okay, so judgment comes when they get to their first meeting. And what do I mean by that? So first of all, you're being judged whether you realize it or not. They're evaluating, first of all, how you're running the meeting. They're evaluating how you handle the preparation. Do you send out the meeting agenda in advance? What do you do? They're judging you and your processes, and they're making opinions about that. So don't take for granted not telling them every step of the way why you're doing what you're doing. Remember that when they go into the meeting, the structure and how it is, explaining that to them. So doing that in advance of their first meeting, like, this is how I open the meeting, this is why I do that, this is how we process what we call COPIs—challenges, opportunities, problems, or ideas—this is the process through it. You're going to notice that. You're going to notice this is how I moderate through that process. This is how we close out the meeting, etc., etc., and explaining that to them so they know and they're not making judgments that are negative unnecessarily, right? There are numerous first impressions. So what do I mean by that? They're judging their peers. So How is that possible? Well, they get in the meeting, and the first meeting— first impressions are everything. First of all, first impression on do you start the meeting on time? Now we're back to you. First impression about each member— how do they greet them? How do they welcome them? They're listening for each member's interaction to determine if they think they're smart or not. Are these really my peers? Are they going to be able to help me? Did I make a good decision? These are smart people. These will be able to help me. Can I add value? I don't know. So that's what's happening, is this judging. The new member is assessing the other members to see whether they can help them. They question whether the members are truly peers, wiser, more sophisticated. You get the gist. So what do you do? You want to influence this perception, and you have the power to do that in order to ensure that the existing member strengths and synergies with the new members are maximized. And what do I mean by that is you want to bring out the positives, the strengths of every member around the table when you have a new member there. Whenever you introduce a new member to an existing member or a new member to your whole group, you're going to play up every single existing member. So what do I mean by that? For example, if John was joining the group for the first time in his first meeting, and let's say John has a partnership and he's in a partnership, meaning it's a— it's— he's got partners in the business, um, but he's the CEO. And let's just say that his organization is a manufacturing company, and one of the challenges is they're getting ready to do an acquisition. Well, I will have probably told him about other members in the groups that also have partnerships for commonality, maybe that also have similarities to the type of industry he's in, and maybe that have already done an M&A transaction or are also considering that. So in introductions, or let's just say somewhere throughout the meeting, I might be saying, John, oh, by the way, You just heard Sam talk a little bit about this relationship with XYZ Company. That's something that he did in regards to an acquisition, kind of like a venture, you know, doing a venture and an acquisition. And maybe offline you could talk to him a little bit about that. But the point is, is that you are building everybody up Or you might say, Sam, can you expand on that a little bit more for John on what you learned and the success that you had in that area? You are always trying to bring out the best in the members so that the existing member can understand what everybody is bringing to the table, because rarely will you have members really stand on a soapbox and toot their horn to a new member. So you have to be that catalyst as a moderator to bring that out. You at this point know more about everybody in the room than everybody knows about each other. Most likely you will always know that because of the role that you play, right? And so take that, take that knowledge and be sure it's shared among each of the members. To prevent in stage 2 a member making a bad judgment on another member that is not true. So let me go back and a quick example. I really learned this the hard way when I had a new member come on board in their very first meeting and they actually left the first meeting and they said to me, Tina, I don't think this is the right fit group. I just don't think these guys are at the in guys when I see men and women at the same level I am. And I knew that those members were even at a higher sophistication level than that new member. And I said, well, what makes you think that? Well, I just didn't see, you know, things talked about that I wasn't aware of, or I just felt the conversation wasn't sophisticated enough. Or point being, they made some judgment calls. And then I had to go back into what, selling mode and say, well, you know, new member, I can see how you might have thought that. However, so-and-so has this experience and has been successful here and so on and so on and so on and so on until they were like, huh, or that you will have a new member say, I don't really think I want to bring up that because I don't think anybody can help me in the group. They're making a judgment call. And I used to hate it because I would say, how do you know that? What makes you think that and actually believe that no one in that, in your group can help you with that? You don't know until you ask because you never know who they know, but you don't know every single experience they've been through. And it's uncanny that how many times then I would get the member to bring that up and the group would help them tremendously. And I would just look at them and kind of wink, you know, and they'd be like, all right, I know you were right. But don't let your existing members get away with not bringing up something because they think somebody in the group is not going to be able to help them or the group as a whole can't help them. That's judging. You have to, as a moderator, be on top alert for judging and nip it because judging means no trust, making assumptions that you want to teach those leaders not to do that in their own business themselves, right? And make those judgment calls unless they're accurate. So they should seek to understand and be sure before, right, having that opinion. This is why stage 2 is so, so important of your new member getting off on the right foot so that you set it up to where they can't judge, and that when they do judge, it's positively, not negatively. And that's what you can do to help them through Stage 2. Okay, so to summarize today, you have 7 stages, right? It's a journey to get to that last stage of vulnerability that sometimes takes years to do. Some people get through stages 1 through 4, right, fairly quickly, within 6 months or so, and they stall in a stage. And as I talk more through the other stages, you'll get a better feel for why that's the case, because some of the other stages that we're going to talk about is they have to go through some tough times for them to get through to the next stage. And what do I mean by tough times is some tough conversations in the group. All right, so again, all I want you to take away today is onboarding and sharing with your new member what they can expect, particularly in the very beginning. But for you as a moderator, what you have to be aware of to manage their expectations, their judgment, and keep their excitement at a high level. So with that, thank you everyone for another episode of Mastermind Mastery on the member journey, which will enhance your member experience, and I guarantee you increased retention and most likely referrals. Right? We always love referrals. Who does not like referrals? And you can download this resource, right? And you can see it in the show notes and be able to click on that. And until next week, you guys go make it happen. And I always love spending time with you. Hey, moderators of groups, thank you so much for listening to today's podcast. To get access to today's show notes and exclusive content and resources, visit TinaCornerStolz.com/podcast or LXcounsel.com, where you can also become part of an exclusive online community, attend our academy, or get free resources, templates, checklists, and more. And you can even contact me there as well. So if this episode resonated with you, this episode resonated with you and you know someone who can also benefit from listening, please share with them by taking a screenshot and even posting on your social media. I also love reviews and appreciate hearing from each of you, those actually doing this wonderful work. Please tune in next week for another episode of Mastermind Mastery, and I'll close by sharing something my mentor did after every learning moment. He shared a shiny pebble from his pocket with anyone he passed knowledge to and asked them to forward that pebble knowledge on. So now I encourage you to go pass on a pebble, the takeaways you learned today, to either your existing groups or fellow peers. Now go make it a great one.