How To Lead An Omega Business Cohort

Omega Business is a six-week journey for small groups of business leaders in churches and communities. While you can complete the Module individually, the best way to experience Omega Business is with a cohort, a small group of like-minded peers who will meet weekly for meaningful connections, deep discussion, and powerful prayer for each other.

I recommend recruiting a group of 5-7 peers and scheduling a weekly meeting time and place for six weeks. Each participant can review the week's material before the meeting so that your time together can be focused on fellowship, discussion, and prayer. Cohorts often meet over food, at a local church, or even virtually with apps like Zoom. These cohorts are perfect for office teams, church groups, and community groups.

The best way to learn about leading an Omega Business cohort is to experience one! You can view details about upcoming Omega Business cohorts HERE. I have also created Cohort Leader Guide that accompanies the course material and is accessible after registration. The following is an excerpt from the Cohort Leader Section, the same guide I use to lead my cohorts!

How It Works

As you may have already experienced, Omega Business Modules are divided into six weeks, each with a weekly training video and notes with application questions. Omega Business is designed with some flexibility. I have found it best for small groups of up to eight members to set a weekly meeting time for discussion and prayer, usually for 60-90 minutes, having reviewed the weekly training and notes individually beforehand. You may watch the weekly training together by extending your meeting time. You may also choose a different meeting frequency. Most in-person groups meet over breakfast or lunch or as an evening church group for six weeks. You may need to add a break for a holiday week, but I encourage groups to complete the series within seven weeks or reschedule for a more consistent time of year. It is also okay if a member needs to miss a week or two, but I find anyone missing more than two of the six weeks is better served by joining at another time. Here are a few other lessons I have learned to maximize the yield from your group.

Who to Invite

As you consider who to invite to your group, I encourage you to select from your peer group or team level. If you are an owner or C-level, invite other owners or C-level peers. If you are a manager, invite other managers. The deepest discussions of this course require a level of transparency that is not conducive or healthy in groups of mixed authority. You want your group to be relatable and safe.

For this reason, I typically discourage employers from facilitating this course for their employees. It can be done, but often with diminishing returns. If you are a vocational pastor considering facilitating this course for your church members, you may similarly be better served by elevating one of your lay-leader businesspersons to be the facilitator and join him or her in a supportive role.

Meet In Person

Inviting peers nearby allows you to meet in person each week. The best groups have always been those that meet in person. No online platform comes close to the in-person experience. Bribe them with breakfast or lunch (that always worked for me).

There can be times when meeting in person is not realistic. Only then would I recommend hosting your discussion groups virtually, which I often do to accommodate people in distant locations.

Discussion-Based Meetings

As you solidify your group members and your weekly meeting time and place, encourage your group to come to the meeting having already seen the week’s training and notes. Using the meeting time as your first opportunity to review the notes does not honor the time of the group. We did that in the early days, but it proved better for the group to come to the weekly meeting ready for discussion. That means reading the notes ahead and taking time to ponder the discussion questions in preparation. 

Weekly Meeting Components

The weekly meeting typically has three primary goals: fellowship, discussion, and prayer. Your group may approach those goals differently, but the best groups typically include all three components. As you think through your weekly meetings, I would encourage you to include opportunities for fellowship, like some get-to-know-you time or ice-breaker questions over food or coffee.

Your role is to guide the discussion and stir the other group members to share. As you guide the discussion, it will be up to you to discern and maintain the focus of the discussion. I have had many-a-member that was overly talkative or opinionated. It is up to you as the leader to keep the reigns on the group and not allow one member to dominate the others. It is also up to you to discern what tangents are profitable or not. Some tangents may surprise you! I have had a few weeks that felt like we didn’t touch the notes, but we did grow much closer to Jesus.

Make prayer more than an opening and closing ritual. Try to dedicate decent time, at least 15 minutes, to prayer. Some may not be comfortable praying aloud, and that’s okay, but most will at least try and become more comfortable over the weeks. Pray over the requests that your members share or use a prayer from the book Praying God’s Word For Your Business. To encourage transparency and discussion, explain that what is shared in the group stays in the group. The greatest experience happens when we turn our study into a dialog with Jesus and allow him to speak to us and work through us.

Feel free to sign up for Omega Business On Demand and explore it for yourself. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me through my contact page.