Most people think accountability is a negative experience. This is the traditional view of accountability. It’s like horrible-tasting cough medicine. You know you needed it, but it’s hard to choke down.
There’s another way to approach performance management and accountability: positive accountability. When accountability is working the way that it should, you should want more of it, not less.
The chart below compares traditional accountability to positive accountability.
| Traditional Accountability | Positive Accountability |
| Constant pressure | Nudges when you need it |
| Feels like a beat-down | Feeling of progress |
| Micromanagement | Teamwork |
| Fear of failure | Pull of success |
| Loss of flexibility | More done in less time |
The key to achieving positive accountability is using positive motivation and emotions versus negative ones. When you have an excellent accountability partner, you create a virtuous cycle. Goals don’t feel impossible, and you make excellent progress towards their accomplishment. This fuels your desire to accomplish more rather than fight the work. This, in turn, accomplishes more goals, and the virtuous cycle continues.
Suppose you’ve had a bad experience with accountability in the past. In that case, we’d encourage you to hop on a free call with one of our positive accountability coaches to see the difference between positive accountability and negative accountability. LINK
If you’re ready to accomplish more of your goals in less time, schedule a call with one of our coaches.