
As an Executive Coach, I am frequently asked to assist with accountability.
This can mean I have been given permission to hold my client’s feet to the proverbial fire and provide a measure of insurance that my client will do what they have said they will do.
1. Accountability Hack – Get someone to hold your feet to the fire.
Another form of accountability that I am asked for is to be the one person in my client’s lives that will ask them the hard questions. I am the person they pay to say things other people would say for free.
2. Accountability Hack – Elect someone to point out the hard things.
My clients of course, are not paying me to say those important nuggets, they are paying me in the hopes that they will finally hear these nuggets and most importantly put them into practice by taking actions that are necessary to achieve their goals.
When a clients writes their coach a check, provides a credit card or sends an e-payment, they are establishing accountability that works.
3. Accountability Hack – Pay someone to tell you the things you need to hear but can only hear them when it costs you money.
Consequences are another form of accountability. The consequences are the uncomfortable and sometimes painful results on the other side of not doing what you said you would do or doing what you said you would not do. Stealing another person’s consequences is a guaranty that any future accountability will be lost. I see well meaning leaders swoop in and save team members from the discomfort of not doing their best work or being late with a delivery of forgetting a commitment.
4. Accountability Hack – Feel the burn of the consequences for not doing what you said you would do or worse, accepting consequences to protect someone else from getting the consequences they earned for their own betterment.
Those same leaders then ask me to help them overcome overwhelm, burnout and anxiety.
One of the most effective ways to become accountable is to as Simon Synek says, start with “Why”. When we know why we are doing something and that “Why” is anchored to something bigger than we are that we would never betray, then by its very nature that anchor will hold us accountable. Many of us can relate to not being able to muster the motivation to do something for ourselves, but when it comes to doing that very same thing for our children, we are Rockstars. My favorite example of this was my client who was unable to keep a consistent early morning workout program. He just could not get up early enough. But, when his son joined the football team and needed to be at 5AM lifting, my client was miraculously able to get junior to practice on time.
5. Accountability Hack – Know WHY you are doing what you do and the cost of not doing it. Get real with yourself and stop living in denial.
In my coaching practice, I work with clients to develop habits. Habit building is fundamental to accountability. Here’s why. When we form a habit, staying on track becomes something we do not even think about. For example, if our “habit” is that we always plan our week schedule in advance, we are less likely to need accountability around time management. If our habit is healthy eating, we will need less accountability around food choices.
6. Accountability Hack – Build the little habits around the big issues that will make accountability a foregone conclusion.
Sometimes accountability issues show up as a mask for passive manipulation. If I am not accountable, I get a pass because “Oh silly me being so scatter brained.” The person who successfully trains everyone that they cannot be relied on never has to shoulder the burden of responsibility. For some people, lack of accountability is their life strategy.
7. Accountability Hack – Let go of hiding behind being unreliable as a life strategy. Grow up.
Most people struggle with accountability at one time or another personally and professionally. We can all grow in this area. Hopefully, one of the tips in this post will be just what you need to level up your accountability game. If not, reach out to one of our Slingshot Coaches for the tough love you need to get back on tract doing exactly what you said you would do when you said you would do it.