Accountability is the acknowledgment, acceptance and assumption of responsibility for agreed actions, decisions, and implementation, whilst being answerable for the resulting outcomes. It is essentially about ownership and initiative and taking responsibility of the results and outcomes.
Accountability eliminates the time and effort you spend on distracting activities and other unproductive behaviour.
Who are you accountable to for the actions identified in your business plan?
- Yourself?
- Your family?
- Your staff?
- Your business mentor?
- Your coach?
- Your customers and stakeholders?
In reality it’s all of the above, but it can help to link accountability to your reasons ‘why’.
For example, if your ‘why’ is to allow the time and the funds to be with your family more, then you may find your family or children are who you are accountable to. If your end goal is to retire with a business to pass on to the next generation, you’re more likely accountable to your mentor. Improving the customer journey = customers, and so on.
Identifying those accountability partners will increase your execution of activities and chances of success, and linking them to your reason why, even more so.
Eliminate distractions
Are you easily distracted by the next great opportunity, or do you procrastinate over doing certain tasks that you don’t enjoy? Refer back to your accountability partner – will what your doing get you closer to the goal, or is your behaviour unproductive?
If you’re struggling with distractions, you might find the tools in this blog helpful: Where does the time go?
Foster trust
‘A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.’ Thomas Pain
Taking responsibility for completing actions, being effective and even making mistakes shows those around you that you can be trusted. A business owner becomes authentic in their management and execution, which solidifies relationships.
Building confidence
When you are held accountable for completing a task, let’s use adopting a new CMS for example, and you complete your task without distraction and present it to your accountability partner, how do you suppose that would feel?
Not only has your personal knowledge increased, but your confidence in finding solutions to challenges has increased, and now you have a reason to mark success on your plan.
Think of accountability as gaining respect
Being accountable to someone, including yourself is not intended to bring guilty feelings of inadequacy if you don’t complete an action. Rather, think of it as a vehicle to drive you towards your end goal. If you take a rest stop, or wrong turn, it makes the journey longer, it doesn’t end the journey. Plans always start with you, your desires, your goals, your journey. If you need a push start along the way please feel free to browse my knowledge base, listen to my podcast and use the search function in the blog. If you need an accountability partner to help define the goal and build your confidence, I offer an hour of free business mentoring and I’d be happy to share my own experiences and knowledge with you.