VHW Club Soul Circle Standard Operating Procedures
Thanks for signing up to lead a Small Group in the Vibrant Happy Women Club!
Every week you'll login into the Zoom account that has been assigned to you so you can have muting capabilities as you lead your group. You should have received an invitation to set up your Zoom account; if you haven't, email us at support@jenriday.com.
Important Info:
- CALENDAR. Add a recurring item to your phone calendar for your Small Group and for the Friday Office Hours (@ 12pm Central /1pm Eastern / 10am Pacific). Also, add a reminder on Fridays to listen to the new episode of Vibrant Happy Women and to complete your worksheet over the weekend so you can talk a bit about your experience if there's time.
- FAQs. If your group members have questions about the Vibrant Happy Women Club in general, you can usually answer them by knowing the information from the FAQ page in the members' area here: http://club.vibranthappywomen.com/faqs (you can get familiar with the answers and point them there when you need to).
- YOUR SMALL FACEBOOK GROUP. Each Small Group has its own private Facebook Group that matches your group number. For example, if your group number is 12, then your Facebook Small Group URL is: facebook.com/groups/vhwclub12. Or if your group number is 7, your FB Small Group URL is: Facebook.com/groups/vhwclub7.
- BIG ALL-CLUB FACEBOOK GROUP. Every single member of the Club has access to the “Big” Facebook Group, which you can join at facebook.com/groups/vhwclub. Please DO NOT post reminders about your small group meetings in the Big All-Club Facebook Group.
- COMMUNICATING WITH JEN AND TEAM. Please do not contact Jen through Facebook Messenger or other ways. All communication should go to support@jenriday.com.
- WEEKLY WORKSHEET. The worksheet will be sent to you every Friday in the weekly email, and you can find it in both the Members' Area under “Welcome” as well as in the FILES section of the Facebook Group.
- YOUR WEEKLY SMALL GROUP:
- PREPARE SPIRITUALLY & MENTALLY AHEAD OF TIME. Feeling nervous? Remember, love is the opposite of fear. Take a moment to meditate or breathe deeply right before the group begins and set an intention to come in the energy of love (and not fear). This is a no-judgment zone. This is a place of love – a sacred space. Your group leaders will LOVE you. Know that and expect that and it will happen. 🙂 Also, stay in the spirit of SERVICE. When we're most concerned about helping others, fear departs.
- ARRIVE EARLY. 10 minutes before the scheduled time click that join link and get ready for some fun!
- GREET PEOPLE BY NAME. As the members join, greet them by name and ask where they're from, what they do, etc.
- DISCUSS THE WORKSHEET. The worksheet will be sent to you every Friday in the weekly email, and you can find it in both the Members' Area under “Welcome” as well as in the FILES section of the Facebook Group. Or type club.vibranthappywomen.com/### into your browser and it will pull up whatever episode number you typed in (### is the episode number). Print out the worksheet ahead of time so you can have it, or you can even pull it up on your computer to look at during the call.
- NEW GROUP MEMBERS. For your first Small Group (and every time someone new shows up to your group), I recommend spending a minute or two at the beginning on introductions (ask them to share their “story” in about 1 minute or less. For example: “I'm Mary Smith from Cleveland, Ohio. I was a stay-at-home mom for 3 kids who are now ages 14, 18, and 22. Now I'm working as a bank teller. I'm here because _________ and I'm most excited to learn __________.”
- CONFIDENTIALITY. Please keep everything you hear in the group confidential. This is sacred ground. Remind group members to keep everything confidential as well.
- THE DISCUSSION. After introductions you can launch into the “meat” of the discussion with questions like:
- What did you like about this week's episode?
- How did your journal prompts go? What did you learn?
- What action(s) do you plan to take going forward?
- If there's extra time, you might ask them how their life's going, or about what's new, or about any plans they might have for the week or weekend, etc.
- LISTEN 95% OF THE TIME. Be powerful a listener. There's an amazing energy that comes in a group like this when you come with your heart open and ready to love and support the other women in the group. Be sure to let the group members do 95% of the talking and work very hard to not be the “expert.” (Nobody likes a know-it-all – lol).
- IF SOMEONE TALKS TOO MUCH. If you have a talker, use a phrase like this, “Thanks so much for your thoughts, NAME. I love what you have to say, but in the interest of time we need to move on and give another group member a chance to share.”
- IF SOMEONE GETS UPSET OR ANGRY. Validate their feelings by saying, “I can tell you feel strongly about that” or “I can tell that has struck a nerve” followed by “Thank you for sharing that. We love you and value your thoughts. Who has other thoughts on this topic?”
- IF SOMEONE HAS A SIGNIFICANT MENTAL HEALTH OR SAFETY CONCERN: Validate their feelings and situation, then add something to the effect of, “Have you ever considered talking to someone about that? There are amazing counselors and therapists everywhere who can help you process these emotions/this situation.”
- ZOOM ETIQUETTE. Once people have joined and you're launching into the meat of the discussion, it's a good idea to have people mute their microphones while others are speaking and to unmute when it's their turn to speak.
- ZOOM TROUBLESHOOTING. If your members have trouble getting into your Zoom call, send them to our Zoom Troubleshooting Page at https://www.jenriday.com/zoomtroubleshooting/
- RECORDINGS. Your Zoom account has a recording option; however, please DO NOT record the meetings for liability and confidentiality purposes.
- ENDING THE SMALL GROUP MEETING. Your meeting should last an hour, so watch the clock and be sure everyone will have time to share. It's great if everyone has a chance to talk at least twice. Please stay in the Zoom meeting until everyone else has left and make sure to leave the room completely empty. If someone accidentally stays on the call it will prevent other groups from using the Zoom room later in the day or week.
Congratulations! You're going to do a phenomenal job!
And remember: “Genuine listening requires that you willingly bear witness to what someone else needs to say while simultaneously sparing them of your own solution, defense, dismissal, alternative reality, rebuttal, counterpoint, comparable story or more extreme example. This kind of listening is a very ‘active’ part to play in a conversation. You have to believe for those moments that none of the things you might say could possibly be as valuable as hearing someone out. You may need to employ every ounce of your strength of character to actually pay attention and not butt-in with your own bit. That kind of attention paid to another is powerful medicine.” ~ Gil Hedley
Thank you for creating a space for women to be heard!
With love,
~Jen