QA manager mastermind

QA Manager
Mastermind
Coming together is a beginning, staying together is
progress, and working together is success.-Henry
Ford
QAStrategy(mail:qastrategy.grp@gmail.com)

Forward
• Being alone sucks.
• Working out solo is difficult.
• Playing games alone is eventually boring.
• Starting any new project by yourself can be depressing.
• Facing fear and failures without help can be defeating.
It happens to all of us: we want to grow and succeed, but on our own, we
are often left frustrated and disappointed.
Being involved in a mastermind group may be the perfect solution.

But…
• But, having friends who settle for average is bad because they bring you
down to their average
• “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”-
Jim Rohn
• So many people are average because it is easy to achieve. Greatness,
however, is a difficult journey.
• Your journey to riches can be easily achieved with a group of
individuals, a mastermind, who strive for riches.

What is mastermind ?
• The concept of a Mastermind group was formally introduced by Napoleon
Hill. “When a group of individual brains are coordinated and function in
harmony, the increased energy created through that alliance, becomes
available to every individual brain in the group.”
• There is synergy of energy, commitment, and excitement that participants
bring to a Mastermind Group.
• The beauty of this group is that participants raise the bar by challenging each
other to create and implement goals, brainstorm ideas, and support each
other with total honesty, respect and compassion.
• Imagine being able to connect with other motivated people who inspire you
to achieve massive success, and who are dedicated to holding everyone else
in the group accountable to doing the same
• So a mastermind = ∑MINDS (A synergy of the minds)
QAStrategy(mail:qastrategy.sgrp@gmail.com)

Why Every One Needs a Mastermind ?
• No leader starts or finishes alone. Great leaders surround themselves
with champions who have strengths they lack.
• Collaboration is a powerful force.
• A Mastermind is a group of individuals who meet for the sole purpose of
improving one another in the various life arenas.
• A mastermind listens, strategizes, and leverages each other's strengths
and networks.

QA Manager Mastermind: mission statement
• We are a dedicated, committed group of QA folks who meet online on a
bi-weekly basis to bounce back ideas, brainstorm and create new
projects or improve old ones, form dream teams, create synergy, support,
learn and empower each other. Through our combined mind power and
network we help each other to live in our purpose and reach our highest
goals.

The 5 C’s of Masterminding: Compassion
Compassion: the members must have a
genuine interest and passion in the success and
growth of other members work. Members must
be looking to benefit and grow from members
input.

The 5 C’s of Masterminding: Community
Community
Community, members function as a peer support
group, they are each other’s cheerleaders and
use their own networks to benefit members in the
group.

The 5 C’s of Masterminding: Confidentiality
Confidentiality
Members must feel comfortable
about sharing information and keeping
share details confidential.

The 5 C’s of Masterminding: Commitment
Commitment
Members are committed to each
other’s success and help create and sustain
accountability measures to ensure group
members succeed in their goals.

The 5 C’s of Masterminding: Collaboration
Collaboration
Members brainstorm creatively together.
They help create new ideas for evolving QA domain.
Members with many different specialties can share a wealth of knowledge
from different areas of QA field..

REMEMBER…..
• The success of this mastermind group hinges on the ability of each of
your commitments to complete promised tasks, be present, and support
the goals of the team. Without the kind of cooperation, dedication and
camaraderie, mastermind group will likely fizzle out long before it has a
chance to gain traction.

What to do during a meeting
• Discuss previous achieved success
• Start every meeting with members sharing their personal victories.
• Goals are shared at the end of every meeting. The beginning of the meeting
should be a time of celebration and sharing of those achievements.
• Hot Seat
• The Hot Seat is the main course during the Mastermind meeting. More
about that in a little bit…
• Sharing Goals
• The meetings end with each member sharing his or her goals to accomplish
before the next meeting. Speaking goals out loud to the group gives you
more power to achieve it. Because everyone else is achieving high goals, you
want to do the same.

As a mastermind group, we can do the
following:
• Brainstorm about how we can grow as professionals
• Share victories and defeats
• Offer accountability
• Meet up together in real life and at conferences, when possible
• Post links to resources, opportunities, events, and articles that might benefit each other.
• Set some yearly goals to achieve and track them on Bi-Weekly basis.
• Here are few examples:
• Write white paper on your own or collaboratively.
• Learn new automation tool
• Present a topic in a forum/conference or in your office.
• Attend at least one job interview and share the experience with group.
• Read one book on Leadership.
• Attend at least one QA Meetup as a group.
• Attend at least one online webinar and share the experience with group.
• Prepare some materials on your own or collaboratively which will be helpful for group like
• QA Manager interview Q&A.

ORGANIZING MEETING: ROLES
• Facilitator: speaker for the group and responsible for running the
meeting
• Timekeeper: keeps eye on the time during short updates and makes sure
the group stays on schedule.
• Coordinator: takes care of coordinating time and place of the meetings.
• Note-Taker: writes down major points of meeting and everyone’s basic
goals for the week and posts them wherever group communication takes
place outside of meetings.
• Moderator: keeps the flow of the meeting and clears up disputes when
discussions get complicated and facts get confused.

MEETING
• Meeting Frequency – Bi-Weekly. Using Google Hangout.
• Meeting Preparation – Generally no additional preparation required.
• Maintaining Focus - The purpose of your mastermind group needs to be
at the forefront of everyone’s mind at all times.

MEETING STRUCTURE
• Open the Meeting - The facilitator welcomes everyone, makes sure
everyone is there, reads the group’s mission statement/purpose,
announces if someone is going to be late/not present, etc.
• Personal and Professional Updates - Everyone gets some time to talk
about their week.
• Main Discussion - A common format is for groups to select one person to
focus on for the session that week. This is called the ‘hot seat’ and it
alternates every meeting. Sometimes this part of the meeting is used to
identify some burning needs or desires of members that will be
addressed during that meeting if we’ve set it up that way or if we can
have an ‘open floor’ type meeting, where anyone who speaks up can
have the attention of the group.
• Closing - The end is usually dedicated to goal declaration and making
commitments.

BEST PRACTICES
• Organize – Decide on meeting platform. (e.g. Google Hangout)
• Schedule meetings ahead of time and know the goal of your meeting.
• Communicate - Communicate with each other as often as possible.
• Authenticity - Take the time to get to know your members and build trust.
• Honesty - Talk to the group when you feel like you’re not getting what you
want out of your meetings. Let them know what you need to feel supported.
Ask them if there’s something that you’re not doing to get the most out of the
group.
• Compassion - Take the time to talk about group dynamics every so often.
Dedicate time to constructive communication of what each person can do
better to facilitate seamless collaboration within the group.

Mastermind (sample) Outline
• 9:00 Welcome/Agenda
• 9:05 Sharing a 'victory' from the previous week
• 9:20 Hot Seat
• -What are you working on?
• -What's working for you?
• -Where do you need help?
• 9:40 Last Question
• -Who can help (member) with their problem?
• 9:50 Each member states a goal for the next week
• 10:00 End

Rules and Guidelines: part 1
• Each Meeting will be held on specific day at specific time for 1 hr.(example:
alternate Saturday at 9 am to 10 am). Deciding on date/time for next
meeting, results in unnecessary wastage of time and should be avoided.
• It is expected that each member be present and on time for the meetings. If
someone cannot attend, should email the group in advance.
• Everyone will have an opportunity to speak within the framework of the
group. It works best if each member participates equally.
• Everyone is here to support one another. Please keep in mind there will be
constructive criticism, but there should be no putting down, or criticism of
other group members. It should be an open and positive experience for all.
• It is important to note, the Mastermind is not just for advice, but it becomes a
positive place where you can manifest your goals with a group. Every
person makes it their intention to support the individual goals and help
manifest them.

• Important decisions are made by majority vote OR group can decide
what should be the criteria.
• Whining, complaining, or gossiping should be avoided.
• At least 75% attendance is mandatory. If u can’t, do not join. (i.e. you
should be able to attend at least 20 out of 26 meetings in a year)
• Members should be self-aware and to not try to dominate the
conversation or give orders.
• Group design for success for everyone. Trust won’t happen immediately,
It will take 6 to 8 weeks.
• Ideally should be of same gender.

• Strong facilitator is needed so that it does not get monopolised.
• Please switch off mobile and WhatsApp/SMS. Avoid any other
distraction during meeting.
• We will meet for 2 months, evaluate to see whether we all are getting
benefitted or not.
• Make it a priority in a calendar. Create a calendar event. If it doesn’t get
scheduled , it does not get done.
• Meeting continues if someone has internet problem, drop out, joins late
etc.

• Confidentiality: Whatever discussed in the group, stays inside the group.
• The great thing about a closed group is that we can share everything from personal
struggles to brainstorms in a safe, private place and receive advice and encouragement
from people we know we can trust with fragile things. For us to wholly benefit from this
aspect of a mastermind group, we must respect each other’s privacy in these ways
• Leadership is shared by all members who may propose suggestions for the group and
new ideas.
• Be generous with your skills and encouragement
• Grow together–you don’t have to be experts before you form a group, we’ll all learn
together!
• We will have some structure into our group, but embrace spontaneity, too.
• If a member feels the group is not a good fit, he will inform the other members about
stepping out, not simply avoid communication.

How to join
If it sounds interesting and you want to join the QA Mastermind group,
please drop us an email qastrategy.grp@gmail.com

QA manager mastermind

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