Years ago, I was in a personal development program and people would share every week about the progress they were taking – or not taking – in their commitments. And when someone didn’t do what they said they were going to do, they would ask the people in the room to hold them accountable? What does that mean to ask someone to hold you accountable?
An accountability partner can remind of of your commitment, of your promises. They can collect a fine or a penalty that you promised if you didn’t keep your word. But they can’t make you take action.
The reality is, you cannot have anyone else hold you to account – you cannot be a high performer if you can’t tell the truth. As a business professional, you’ll either do what needs to be done or you won’t succeed. No amount of accountability partners is going to do the work for you. So how do you hold yourself to account?
Here are a few suggestions:
- Tell the truth about what you did. Did you take the actions you promised? if not, why not? What was more important than your commitment to your business? What did you do instead? What was it that sidetracked you? Being able to be honest about this can help get you back on track.
- Tell the truth about what you didn’t do. This goes along with number one. Get very clear on what didn’t get done. Do you need support? help? resources? Getting clear on what your strengths and weaknesses are can help you find the tools you need to move forward.
- Tell the truth about how you did it. Maybe you took the action but didn’t produce the result you intended. Were you all in? Were you resigned? What was the attitude and level of focus and attention you brought to the promised actions?
- Tell the truth about your success or failure at achieving your goal. This is the most important piece. And here’s the biggest secret to growth – it isn’t personal. You’re not a success or failure. The action was either a success in producing the intended result or it failed to produce the intended result. Either way, it means nothing about you.
So often, we tie our self-worth and value to the success and failure of our actions. Being able to separate our identity from our results provides power in learning, making new choices, growth and development. Deal with the reality of what happened. Deal with your attitude towards it and stay focused on your goal.
Fear of failure is tied only to your self-worth and it’s not at all related. You are human. Sometimes you will fail. Sometimes you will succeed. And either way, you’re awesome. Learn from both. And I can help shift how you see it to get you into action.
You can’t fail – or succeed – if you don’t try.