If you’ve been around the freelancing, entrepreneurial or online business world for long enough you’ll have heard people talking about accountability. But what is it, and why is it something you might need for your own business?
My definition of accountability is that it’s having someone to check in with on a regular basis to ensure you make progress towards implementing a specific project or key part of a bigger programme.
I see it as being a bit like project management (which is my area of expertise, with 25 years experience of managing and successfully completing projects in the corporate and agency worlds).
Project management involves setting up a plan with all the steps needed to make something happen. And then working your way through that plan bit by bit until the project is finished.
It sounds so simple when it’s written down like that – and in some cases it is. But in my experience, there are always things that crop up along the way – whether it’s a change in deadline, budget, availability of the people who are helping, or something that’s more urgent in the business right now. The more complex the project, the more elements that could need to be adjusted before it is completed.
Why do I need accountability?
When you’re making things happen in a corporate or agency environment there are always other people around who are involved and can help. But when you’re working by yourself, often working on something you had decided you wanted to do rather than that someone else has asked for, it can be much harder to make things happen. Because you are one person. You have a business to run day to day, both serving clients and doing the necessary admin behind the scenes. So if things get busy there, or you have a new idea, or something else distracts you, it’s easy to wander away from that idea you’re trying to implement and not make any progress.
This is where accountability comes in.
If you have someone else to report to every week about your progress, you’re much more likely to make progress. Even if it’s one small thing every week, that small thing is getting you closer to your goal.
How can I find someone to hold me accountable?
- If you have a business partner, by the very nature of that relationship you’ll be holding each other accountable for the tasks you each said you’d do.
- If you have a coach, there may be an element of accountability in that arrangement – although it may be for the business overall or some personal development tasks rather than on a specific idea of yours.
- Some group coaching programmes or online memberships also include accountability – however, as someone pointed out to me when I asked a question about this in an online group recently, it’s much easier to get lost in a group and not actually do things because you’re just one of many participants.
- If you know another freelancer or business owner who also wants some accountability, you could make an arrangement where you contact each other every week to say what you’ll get done, and check up to make sure you are doing that. This works well with the right person, although this might work better for day to day tasks rather than one specific project.
- Or of course you could find somebody like me, who can help you create an action plan for the priority idea that you want to implement right now – and then hold you accountable for a dedicated period of time to ensure you follow through and actually launch the course, workshop, book, service or product.
Whoever you choose to provide some accountability, I hope you’ll find it as helpful as a recent client of mine did:
“Knowing that we had accountability sessions set up was also very helpful to me to keep the momentum going.”
Sarah, a recent client, found that accountability was a useful part of the 3 months we worked together
If you’re interested in getting my help to make an idea happen, you can read more about my services here.
