Have you noticed when we hear that someone is going to be “held
accountable”, it usually means something bad?
It often means a fine, or jail time, or some other punishment. If you were offered the experience of being
held accountable, would you cringe in fear at the thought of it?
For some, accountability is actually embraced as a chance to
move forward and make progress. In spite
of the bad connotation of the word, these people see accountability as an
asset, a help, even a catalyst. They
want to be held accountable, because they see it as a way to encourage them to
act in a way that helps them achieve something.
It brings their commitments to life.
It gives meaning to their goals by establishing consequences they can
live with for failing to reach those goals.
As a leader, are you holding your team accountable to
accomplishing certain things? One of the
easiest ways to use accountability is in your daily huddles, or weekly team meetings. As team members commit to certain actions,
make sure you note the commitment, and come back to it in the next meeting to
keep them accountable for actions they promised. You’ll be surprised at how effective this
simple approach can be to help you delegate, and to stimulate steady progress.
And how about you?
Who is holding you accountable to your goals? Do you have an accountability partner? As small business owners, we don’t often have
a board of advisors, or shareholders, to report to. Although that “freedom” from oversight can
feel attractive, it can also be a deterrent to progress. Only the most highly disciplined business
owners seem to be able to hold themselves to their goals. For most of us, it is more effective to have the
help of someone else to push us to meet the very goals and strategies we have
set for ourselves.
What could you accomplish with an accountability partner?
- Create a stronger team? Having someone challenge the skills and performance of team members can often keep us more objective when it comes to managing, hiring and firing.
- Learn something new? Let’s say your sales skills are weak. Think of how much more business you would have if someone was pushing you to learn new sales techniques and stretching you beyond your comfort zone.
- System implementation? Perhaps you’ve been threatening to implement a new process for quotations in your business because the current approach is slow and ineffective. Imagine how it would feel if a new process was in place because you had someone poking at you to get it done.
- Introduce a new product or service? You feel strongly that your new web-based platform will add 30% to your sales revenue, but the day to day work of the business keeps you from finishing it. Would it be worth 30% of revenues to have someone hold you accountable for its implementation?
These examples and more illustrate that accomplishing our
goals brings clear benefits, usually in terms of money or time. Business coaches are skilled at the
accountability function, but business owners sometimes feel the investment in a
coach is too expensive. Yet it is this
function of holding clients accountable to their own goals that produces a
return on the investment in a coach. If you want to get something important
done, find yourself an accountability partner and prepare to be amazed by your
progress.
