What to Look for in an Accountability Partner
Unsuccessful advisors may dream of success but they can’t seem to commit to or stick with their ideas. They tend to procrastinate or spend their time struggling to discern between high and low priority tasks.
Successful advisors on the other hand have a clear roadmap incorporating concrete goals and they consistently hit their targets. They have discovered the art of “accountability”.
To help you attain this essential trait it may be worthwhile finding an accountability partner.
An accountability partner is someone who can help you grow your business by offering guidance while holding you to your commitments. A combination of cheerleader and coach, they can help you set goals and produce action plans, ensuring you stick to them so that you achieve measurable results. A good accountability partner will help you stay motivated and ensure you focus your energy where it’s needed.
An accountability partner should have a full ‘toolbox’ of knowledge and experience
A good accountability partner will not only have extensive professional experience but be an experienced personal coach. Ideally they will be knowledgeable in emotional intelligence, self-leadership, positive psychology, mental training and neuroscience. Armed with this full toolbox of expertise they can actively listen and ask you thought-provoking questions thereby encouraging you to become more open-minded and confident that you can reach your goals.
Using the power of positive psychology your accountability partner can focus on your positive character strengths while acknowledging any negative traits that may hinder you. Using emotional intelligence, they can guide your thinking and behavior, while neuroscience is useful in re-framing or re-wiring the brain to improve thinking and performance.
Mindfulness is another tool that can be used to encourage you to see the world in new ways and enable you to develop better leadership skills.
Look for a partner who can offer a personalized approach
When you look for an accountability partner ensure they can offer you a customized service to address your specific needs and goals and ensure they are the right fit for you personality-wise.
Find an accountability partner who will be honest with you
Look for a partner who is not afraid to hold you accountable, and willing to challenge you to do the work necessary to fulfil your goals. Your partner must be interested in your results and notice if you slip or fail to keep your daily commitments. They are there to help you keep an eye on your long-term objectives and ensure – if you do slip – that you re-commit to your future goals.
An accountability partner can help you break free of any limiting beliefs and guide you out of your comfort zones – as well as make you aware that you alone are responsible for how you spend your time. They will help you realize that your success is dependent on how much effort you put in and to do this you must be able to honestly account for your time, actions and results.
Your accountability partner must be able to offer frequent communication
Regular communication and support are essential in order to ensure action plans are kept on track, as well as to measure progress. Daily communication, however brief, is recommended, as well as in-depth weekly meetings. With your accountability partner you can set goals for the day and update your partner with the progress on previous commitments. Once a week or every other week the scheduled longer meetings will provide a deeper level of support.
Without learning the art of accountability you will never know how to achieve your goals and enjoy real success. With the help of an accountability partner you can become more self-aware and self-resilient. Your new confidence will not only earn you the respect of your clients but enable you to hit your personal objectives.
Once you’ve mastered accountability you will learn what you can do better, and be able to measure how far you’ve come on your road to success. Your accountability partner can help you discover your ‘inner excellence’.
