By sharing your experience, your success, and maybe most importantly with your contemporaries around the country - other people like you who have probably faced with similar situations in their own businesses - everybody benefits.

Purpose
While shared ownership is the heart and soul of the process - it is also one of the greatest challenges to the long term success of any group. When you come right down to it people are not always principled enough to live in a team environment. Often one or two members 'hijack' the group and it becomes a reflection of them and their interests. This is to be avoided at all costs.

The Strategic Conversations peer-group is a "flattened organization" - everyone is considered an equal and shares in the responsibilities. There are no "bosses", no "subordinates" - no special treatment. This is the essence of the self-managed group process - no one is working for anyone else and can not let others shirk their responsibilities and dump the management on a few.

With that said, it is human nature for some people to naturally assume a more leadership role than others. While we cannot change human nature, we can implement practices that keep the responsibilities equal. There is nothing wrong when one or two members assume that leadership role - when it takes place in a spirit of collaboration and sharing. We often learn best by example and a few leaders among us become our teachers, making us stronger in the process.

Application
Two ongoing roles for the regular meetings are facilitator and time-keeper. These roles are rotated every meeting - this creates a sense of shared responsibility and ownership for the operating of the group. It is important at the outset of the group formation to explain the facilitator's role as a functional one, not a performance one. The objective in the meeting is the meaningful discussion amongst the members. All else is secondary.

The facilitator is to get the meeting on tract and then let the discussions proceed within the time constraints of the agenda. The same hold true for the timekeeper. It is to track the time and nothing more.

The secret to success is simplicity. The simpler the meeting can be, the better. The purpose of the group is to be a source of feedback and perspective to provide each member with insight and confidence into his or her situation.

Therefore, from the outset, the group needs to know the policies. And once these policies are determined most successful groups add the information, the how-to, what-to details, in the files area of their private discussion group. This will be addressed in a little more detail in the Technology area.

To get you started on a time tested success track, here are some policies we recommend:

Each group member shares the responsibilities of the group equally. In many volunteer organizations, the work often falls to the 5 or 10% who are willing to take on the tasks required.

Over time these individuals are likely to feel resentful, taken advantage of. The co-equal relationship of a Strategic Conversations group prevents this. Every member shares the responsibilities.

At the end of each meeting, the members collectively determine the facilitator and timekeeper for the next meeting. In the event a facilitator or timekeeper is absent, the group members will pitch in to fill that role.

The Strategic Conversations group is a simple, yet powerful process. Keeping it simple and straight-forward is a good formula for success.

If someone misses meetings - you have to cut them loose. They are sub-optimizing the results of everyone (themselves included)and they will drag the group down.

For that reason each group should have an attendance policy. If attendance is required and the content and interaction is valuable, members will cancel the competing activity - rather than jeopardizing their membership by leaving their fellow member in the lurch.

Additional Resources