Accountability partners are people who help you keep to commitments towards achieving your goals. They are people who you chose to assist you in staying the course on your journey towards love, happiness and success in abundance. In other words, they increase your chances of success.
These are the people who keep you on track to transform your habits and behaviours to achieve your goals. Having someone who has your interests at heart along your journey increases your chances of success to reach your objectives.
Accountability partners can be from your network of colleagues, friends and family who you tap on to keep you accountable to the goals you set for yourself during a coaching session. These goals are set during a coaching conversation with your coach, or by using Let’s Coach, a free coaching app developed by ITD World to make the world a better place by putting the power of coaching at your fingertips.
Accountability partners are those who are willing to be your reliable and supportive allies in the process of transforming yourself. They hold you accountable to your stated objectives and can be depended upon to check on your progress regularly. You would want them to be dependable to ensure that you will be fully accountable to realize your own goals and dreams.
To ensure your accountability partners are aware of what you intend to achieve, share with them your goals and action plans. Tell them which steps you want to be accountable for and secure their commitment. After that, set up a mutually agreed upon reminder and review system so progress can be tracked. Some people would receive a call, email or text message once or twice a week to check on progress. Those who prefer more face-to-face interaction would meet for coffee every two weeks to review, discuss, and catch up on what is going well and identify further gaps to close.
This method of having accountability partners is so effective that World #1 Executive Coach and ITD World strategic partner Marshal Goldsmith has gone on record to say that he pays someone to call him everyday to check up on him. The calls are to ensure that he is keeping to the process of improving himself by using the Daily Active Question (DAQ) technique. Employ this life changing DAQ technique today and see your life transform for the better.
You may also want to leverage on technology to your advantage. For example, many people set recurring reminders on their smartphones and online calendars to ensure action steps are executed and that progress reviews do take place. The Let’s Coach app allows you to key in your goals, strategies, tactics and action steps. The action steps appear in a checklist allowing you to check them off day-to-day as you get closer to obtaining the outcomes you desire. How you use the power of accountability partners is entirely up to you. Our suggestion is that you make it a rewarding experience by celebrating the milestones and meaningful achievements with the people who have journeyed with you along the path to success.
An accountability partner, or a team of accountability partners are people who are convinced that you have potential to be unleashed and have your best interests at heart. They are convinced their investment of time and effort in you will be worthwhile. They want to you achieve your stated goals to go on to accomplish big things in work and life.
The people you want to be your accountability partner should do so willingly. A person who enters into an accountability partnership unwillingly may see such responsibility as a burden. The person may grudgingly agree at first to respect the request but if the heart is not willing, he or she may end up feeling resentful by. As a result, he or she may end up not being committed and damaging any pre-existing relationship two or more people have.
As accountability partners need to do regular follow up, they would have to be committed to go through the entire journey with you who has tapped on them. The commitment also extends to being dependable enough to stick to the scheduled follow ups. Accountability partners should make time in their schedules to ensure they are there when the time comes for the review, discussion or conversation to check on progress.
It takes a certain amount of courage to be accountable for someone’s success. You would want accountability partners who are brave enough to tell you candidly, in a caring and loving manner, that you have strayed from the course.
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People who become accountability partners can be relied on as a source of comfort during times of personal transformation. The going can get tough and challenging when you embark on a journey of change, so having someone or a group of people who are encouraging you and cheering you along the way can be comforting. An accountability partner is someone who does not use fears or threats to drive progress, instead, this person would just focus on ensuring the other person refocuses on his or her commitments.
Can I be an accountability partner to someone?
Definitely. Our heartiest congratulations if someone has tapped you to be their accountability partner. You are recognized as a loyal friend and committed to their success. As an accountability partner, remember to keep your word and fulfil agreements. Reinforce their achievements with positive affirmations and sincere appreciation when the person you are partnering with makes excellent progress.
Be their anchor in the storm by giving them your support and encouragement if they are falling behind. Give them the belief that they have what it takes to overcome their roadblocks along the road to results. Ask them powerful questions so they can refocus their efforts. Encourage them to reflect so they can pivot to other solutions as they do their best to overcome the challenges along the way.
Accountability Partners:
A Case Study of Three Amigos
Three friends, Tim, Tang and Takuya recently decided they needed to accomplish one goal each by the middle of the year. Tim wanted to cycle a minimum of 50km a week for a total of 200km a month. Tang’s aim was to read a minimum of 30 minutes a day or 350 minutes a week. Meanwhile, Takuya’s objective was to run 20km per week or at least 3km per day.
They got together and discussed how they could stick to taking the necessary actions required to achieve their goals. All three realized that motivation was hard to come by individually but if all three provided support and encouragement to each other, then the process may seem easier.
After a few rounds of tea at their favourite coffee shop, the three friends decided to keep each other abreast of progress on an online spreadsheet which would be updated weekly. To ensure no one was cheating, they relied on tracking apps and screenshots to record their accomplishments. They also shared tips, tricks, techniques and inspirational messages on a group chat to keep the motivation high.
In addition, they decided to impose a penalty on those who did not meet the weekly targets. The penalty was a USD50 fine. The monies collected would be pooled together. At the end of their efforts at the middle of the year, the money would be used to purchase a jersey of the sports team the person who made the least progress disliked the most. He would then have to wear the jersey for a month every time they went out for a meal.
Spurred on by each other’s energy and drive to succeed as well as the individual dislike of having to wear a piece of clothing they did not want, Tim, Tang and Takuya made sure they achieved their weekly targets. No money was collected at the end because they managed to accomplish what they set out to do.
This story is adapted from 5 Levels of Mastery written by Marshall Goldsmith, Dr Peter Chee and Aaron Ngui
5 Levels of Mastery: We are excited to begin a new and fulfilling journey together with you. It’s our intention to make this a journey of a lifetime. For a very important reason, we have created this book alongside complementary continuous learning solutions that serve as your compass, companion and coach throughout your life’s voyage for greater love, happiness and success. This work is also based on our extensive research and practice in coaching, mentoring, training and developing leaders from over eighty countries. In the process of helping people, we discovered what worked wonders to produce outstanding results.
Do I need coaching skills to be an accountability partner?
In general, having coaching skills can make you a more effective accountability partner. When you are equipped with powerful coaching techniques, you are in a better position to help the person you are partnering with to identify issues, overcome roadblocks and reinforce good habits. Consider picking up coaching skills coaching skills to make you a better person to be an accountability partner. Even better, you can also coach others to help them fulfil their potential as a certified coach. Wishing you all the best in becoming the best version of yourself and helping others realize their dreams.
On good teams coaches hold players accountable, on great teams players hold players accountable.
Joe Dumars
