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Can accountability improve business performance?
This may be the shortest blog ever. Yes, accountability can and will improve business performance!
However, will accountability work is in the issue. The issue is getting human beings to agree to accountability. That’s the hard part.
So what do you do when you or your team could benefit from accountability but doesn’t want it?
The unfortunate truth about accountability
There was a classic TV commercial for Listerine, which is the taste you hate twice a day. It was genius marketing because Listerine at the time tasted similar to gasoline, and their main competitor, Scope, was minty fresh. So rather than try to overcome the bad taste, Listerine fell on the sword, so to speak, and advertised that it tasted like medicine because it was, which means it works well.
Five steps to painless accountability
Driving accountability on your own is extremely difficult, and it can be a challenge even with help. That’s why we’ve created a five-step process to achieve painless accountability.
Step 1: Dare to Dream…
Are you ready to be more accountable?
Take the quiz to see if you are ready to be more accountable.
More accountability, better results
I’ve completed over 11,000 one-on-one business coaching sessions. When you meet with that many business owners, you start to recognize patterns. One of the patterns I picked up on I call when you “Isn’t there a C option.”
Here’s an example of how it goes. Sally is a valued employee who has a very specific skill no one else in the organization has. It would be tough to run the business without Sally’s specific skills. However, Sally is cultural poison. She runs off customers and new employees. She’s tough to be around and makes creating a positive will work culture nearly impossible.
Positive accountability vs traditional accountability
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.
You can’t hold yourself accountable
t’s a bummer, but you can’t really hold yourself accountable. Now, I know some of you are thinking, “Yes, I can.” However, that’s probably closer to being a high-drive, get-it-done type of person than being able to hold yourself accountable.
Accountability helps you get things done that you can’t do via your own devices. By definition, that requires a third party.
The “Try Harder” Plan Doesn’t Work
Whenever we want to get more done, accomplish a goal, or get ourselves out of a funk, our first instinct is to kick ourselves in the butt and try harder.
The problem with the “Try Harder Plan” is that it almost never works because most of us are already trying pretty hard.
Whether we like it or not, we are only inclined to change when the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of change. Shoot, there are songs about it (e.g., Beyonce’s “Better Put a Ring on It).
Accountability done right shouldn’t hurt. It should help individuals and teams accomplish their goals more easily, have more fun, and enjoy each other… not wish the boss to die –;
When the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of change
Human beings are wired to view change as dangerous. Poke your head out of the cave and get eaten by a saber-tooth tiger. It’s better to stand pat. Not all change is good and can, in fact, be dangerous. However, never changing leaves you starting in the cave.
Whether we like it or not, we are only inclined to change when the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of change. Shoot, there are songs about it (e.g., Beyonce’s “Better Put a Ring on It).
Accountability done right shouldn’t hurt. It should help individuals and teams accomplish their goals more easily, have more fun, and enjoy each other… not wish the boss to die –;
Accountability Doesn’t Have to be Painful
Most people envision accountability as top-down, do this or else accountability. This is why most people run away from accountability because it hurts.
Accountability done right shouldn’t hurt. It should help individuals and teams accomplish their goals more easily, have more fun, and enjoy each other… not wish the boss to die –;