Ok, so why on earth would you want to be accountable?

WHY

You’re the boss right, you don’t have to answer to anybody. But you know that’s not true. You know without focus, without accountability you’ll be caught up in the hamster wheel, busy being busy. Without accountability you let yourself off the hook and prioritise loudest over long term results.

So, that’s our “why” established for being accountable. You know that or you wouldn’t have clicked on this article. Let’s talk “how”!

HOW

5 Ways You Can Improve Your Accountability

1. Be accountable to yourself:

Being accountable to yourself is the first and most important step in improving accountability, but is often the trickiest to pinpoint. Here are a few ways I’ve identified to help you improve feeling focused…

• knowing the consequence of not achieving your action
• rewarding yourself for achieving your action
• set yourself goals or measurements so you know exactly what action you’re accountable for, and when
• blocking ‘accountability time’ in your calendar or tag it onto the end of each task so you can review (whether you achieved or not)
• set yourself up to win, not to fail by eliminating any multi-tasking habits
• work to your strengths

2. Be accountable to your mentor or coach:

Sometimes it takes being accountable to someone else to keep the pressure on. Sometimes we need that pressure. Having a mentor or coach who’s not interested in excuses can help you to focus, knowing you have a call on Wednesday where you need to produce your ‘homework’ is that little prod you need to sit down and finish. When you have no one to answer to, it is easy to opt-out of rigid schedules that make you feel restricted, but by having some outside pressure, it can give you that extra push to focus a lot harder on the days when it just doesn’t come naturally.

3. Be accountable to your team:

Share accountability in the workplace. Have consequences (they don’t need to be nasty!) and have a no-excuses culture in your business. Address any lapses in accountability quickly when you begin to see them to prevent any bad habits from forming. Just like you would with yourself, make sure you encourage positive accountability within your team to ensure that everyone feels empowered to work towards larger goals. Whether it’s your virtual assistant (subtle plug!), your 2IC or a senior member, develop a culture of everyone being accountable and give that accountability priority. You’re the leader so time to lead by example!

4. Be accountable for your mistakes:

When it comes to accountability, missing the mark is sometimes inevitable. It is crucial to remind both yourself and your team that, at the end of the day, everybody is prone to making mistakes once in a while for whatever reason. A good way to put in preventative measures to best avoid this is by making SMART goals that will enable you to efficiently achieve realistic deadlines, which you can learn more about by downloading this e-Book here. By remembering that mistakes are human, you give yourself and your team enough room to move past them and push onwards and upwards.

5. Be accountable to change:

Let’s face it, sometimes things outside of our control happen that can change parts of business. Being honest and open with yourself is the most important part of proving that you are adaptable and an efficient problem-solver. Whether this involves needing to delegate or take on more responsibility, the ability to collaborate and communicate with your team will be a key tool in promoting accountability and creating a culture of a dedicated work ethic when it comes to running your business. Whatever change looks like for you, it must be considered when moving forward if it will impact your accountability. If you have a good handle on adapting to change, you likely are highly accountable and are equipped to build an equally focused team.

So now it’s time to be accountable whether we like it or not! Download your free guide full of accountability tips right here!