What Happens When You Lack Accountability?
It’s essential to acknowledge that you alone are responsible for your success as a financial advisor and this means you must be accountable. If you’re not accountable you will never feel in control of your destiny or understand how to turn things around if they take a downturn. No matter how smart or talented you are, if you lack accountability you will not develop the self-discipline you need to change your outcomes for the better.
When you can’t admit you’re wrong
Nobody’s perfect. None of us have the power to see into the future, we can only give it our best shot. No matter how good you are you will sometimes make decisions on behalf of your clients that don’t work out. But if it’s clear you have taken a wrong turn – don’t brush it under the carpet. Admit you’re wrong. Hold yourself accountable before your clients do. Otherwise you will be deemed untrustworthy.
If you’re not accountable you won’t manage your clients’ expectations
By owning up to your mistakes you can start to analyze what went wrong and never repeat the same mistake again. As part of being forthright and taking ownership of issues you need to tell your clients how you will set things right. That’s no more or less than a reasonable client could expect of you.
If you are not accountable you will not achieve your goals.
Accountability allows you to focus on the important things, both professionally and personally.
Being accountable means having an action plan, or list of tasks to get done. By making yourself accountable to ‘yourself’ you can stay on track and achieve what is needed to succeed. If you can’t step back and analyze your performance you won’t be able to develop the self-discipline and vision to get the results you want.
For example, if you’re not accountable you may spend too much time preparing to meet clients than actually meeting them, or find ways to avoid prospecting. By becoming accountable you will start to perform at a higher standard; you will begin to learn your strengths and weaknesses and how to use them to your best advantage.
Take control back and become accountable by setting goals such as calling a certain number of clients for a catch up or writing personal cards and notes.
Lacking accountability is disempowering
Unless you are accountable you won’t understand where you are today and how you got here. So you won’t be able to work out how to move forward.
Rather than feeling depressed and simply hoping that things will get better (or won’t get any worse) focus on the one person that can change things – yourself. Spend time setting goals, tracking performance and adjusting your approach – get a mentor to help you stay on track. This way you will see that the power of change is within you and that you’re not a victim of circumstances.
Don’t focus on things you “can’t do” but on what you “can do”. Listen to others and take on board their feedback no matter how negative. Put the focus on learning rather than being right all the time.
If you’re not accountable clients won’t refer you
If you’re not accountable and lose your clients’ trust and confidence, you will not get referrals from them.
Being accountable means having leadership skills and vision: it means your clients can look to you when the going gets tough. Unless you become accountable your potential will remain undeveloped and you won’t enjoy the success you crave. You need to become accountable both to your clients and yourself in order to reach your professional and personal goals.
Being accountable is only a fraction of building your relationship with clients. Start by joining Don Connelly 24/7.
