Provocative, yes? Pull your mind back from the gutter. This is not that type of message! In fact, it is about what we don’t do when others aren’t watching.
When we’re not accountable to someone, we can easily slack off.
My fitness tracker recently stopped charting my exercise and steps taken. While it did not stop me from doing my early morning workouts, the lack of tracking stopped my extra steps during the day. You know, like that 10-minute walk around the block or parking as far away as possible from the office.
It is absurd, isn’t it? It is not that I was physically unable to do those things anymore. It felt like I wasn’t being held accountable, so I chose not to since I wasn’t getting any credit for those extra steps.
Ouch! How revealing. I consider myself a high achiever, personally and professionally. Yet when we are not accountable to someone and on the hook for a commitment, even the most hard-charging of us can slack off.
Accountability is everything. Really.
Heads of companies and business divisions as well as partners in charge engage Accelus to grow leaders and their teams. Most of the goals they desire to achieve would not come to fruition without accountability.
Consider this stat on accountability:
The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD now called Association for Talent Development (ATD)) did a study on accountability and found that if you have a specific accountability appointment with a person you’ve committed, you will increase your chance of success by up to 95%.
That’s pretty substantial, isn’t it?
Having an accountability partner is your key to success.
If you want to achieve big things, make sure you have someone alongside you to help you live up to your commitments. Yes, even driven, high achievers need a partner to hold them accountable as they work on their most important goals.
Recognize that these commitments are more important to yourself than anyone else. Do you think they matter less?
Oh, and my tracker? It’s back online…and so are my extra steps! A big shout-out to fitbit for offering a significant discount for a new tracker, AND for sending another right along when the first replacement was never delivered. Talk about accountability and customer service!