One of the first questions I ask someone when we begin a coaching relationship is, “What is the most effective way to hold you accountable?”
Like any situation, people approach it in different ways and have different responses…
When the person is clear on how to best hold them accountable, it’s typically an indicator that they’ve had some form of an accountability partner in the past.
When the person isn’t clear, it’s either that they haven’t done this type of work, or are resistant to committing to the process.
If you have an accountability partner, I’d love to hear effective ways in which you’ve used this type of relationship in your life.
If you don’t have one, I highly encourage you to consider getting one.
Here’s why….
In order to take the next step in your career, regardless of what level you currently reside in, it becomes essential for you to identify how others receive and perceive you and take full responsibility for your outcomes.
Often times, it can be very difficult for an individual to identify these things and moreso, hold themselves accountable for them.
When you have an accountability partner, you have an opportunity to learn more about the things that you’re unaware of and often trip you up.
Perhaps you’re unaware of how you show up in meetings, or value being right over everything else, or avoid difficult conversations, or tend to play the victim and refuse responsibility.
Whatever it may be, an accountability partner not only helps you identify these things, they help you take responsibility of them over time and hopefully, create new patterns and behaviors.
Your patterns and behaviors develop over time and essentially become part of your DNA; without making a conscious effort to create new patterns and behaviors, you can get stuck in the old ones and unable to take the next step in your career, life and relationships.
For this week, I encourage you to ask someone, “What is the one area of leadership that I have an opportunity to improve in and should be more aware of?”
See what type of response you get and then take notice of how open you are to receiving this feedback.
