Accountability: Key to More Prospects

Do You want to see your goals manifest this year? Use an accountability partner.

Time is the most precious thing. We often don’t have enough of it. On the top of any leader’s list of priorities, however, is personal and professional growth. Whether your goal is to lose weight, more sales, or to develop your character, having an accountability partner is a powerful tool to help you achieve them.

A good accountability partner can serve as a confidant, give you honest feedback, and challenge you to go further than you ever imagined.

While it is our responsibility to manage our attitudes, growth and emotions, extra support can help us stay motivated as we navigate uncomfortable feelings as we stretch to meet the demands of our ambitions.

However, an accountability partner is not a coach or mentor. Nor do they give advice to you, but rather he/she serve as a joint partner as you travel down the road of success.

Here are a few tips to get the most out of your accountability partner.

Pick Someone Who is Accepting

A partner’s job is simply to listen and ask questions, to challenge you, validate reality, brainstorm with you and encourage you.

An accountability relationship is built on trust and vulnerability, so choose a partner who is accepting.

Judgment in this relationship is lethal and can stir shame, anger and anxiety which impedes progress towards realizing your goals.

First Meeting

The critical first conversation is a time to share expectations for the calls. Both should express needs and how feedback should be given. Agree, when trust is established, to ask each other the tough questions that stimulate growth.

State one to three goals you each like to pursue and the time frame in which you want to accomplish them. By making a public declaration, you increase the chances of reaching your goals.

Remember each day take one or two baby steps toward your goals, so it becomes a reality.

How to Schedule the Meetings

Calling once a week is the minimal requirement to make an accountability partnership work.

A phone or a Skype meeting can be brief. A thirty-minute call can be fashioned to give each participant fifteen minutes to discuss their goals, and whether they’ve hit their action items for the week.

Commitment to each other’s growth is key to making this partnership work.

During a call, here are sample questions you can use during your calls:

• How can I support and encourage you?
• What would help you reach your goals more consistently?
• In what ways do you celebrate even small achievements?
• Why do you think you had trouble completing your action plan for the week?
• Name recurring patterns of thought or behaviors that serve as a road block in taking regular action to your dream.

If you struggle with agreed upon action steps, ask yourself:

• What is your why in pursuing this goal? Is it financial gain? Freedom? Better health?
• How can you keep this why in front of you each day as you’re taking baby steps toward your goals?
• What is it about this action step that causes you to procrastinate? Is there fear? Self-doubt? How can you address this?

Brainstorm with your accountability partner ways to address these issues, pick an idea and implement it.

From time to time step back to see how the process is going. Is this a mutually beneficial relationship? Are you hitting your targets? Is your accountability partner hitting theirs? What adjustments need to be made to the partnership? More rigorous honesty? More availability? What is going well and how can you build on that?

Conclusion

A committed accountability partnership can help us grow in leaps and bounds by helping us see our blind spots, staying more motivated, determined and real. Teamwork increases the chances of meeting your goals.