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I believe having an accountability partner or co-mentor is a great way to challenge yourself and let go of excuses. With an accountability partner, it’s harder to ignore your goals because you “just don’t feel like getting anything done”.

Back in 2014, I participated in a 14 Day Product Challenge hosted by Loralee Hutton of Her Portable Biz. This was part of her book launch for Info Product Complete: Because Finishing Changes Everything.

I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and bring to life a pet project which had been stalled. Everything appeared complicated and the technology frightened me before the challenge.

Loralee’s book and the support from Loralee and our Group Members not only saw me create my first info product, but 2.

If you visit Karmic Ally Coaching Success Solutions, you’ll see I have been unstoppable since then!

The group members also served as accountability buddies or partners. Prior to this challenge, the only other time I had an accountability buddy was in school and college. We made sure we got our assignments done and submitted in time.

We had the same system in some of the organizations that I worked in during my career. Efficiency and productivity were supported when there was an accountability buddy or co-mentor.

When you have someone you have to report to daily or weekly, you work harder than usual because you don’t want to let your partner down.

But keeping track of each other’s goals and celebrating successes isn’t the only thing that you and your accountability partner can do together.

There are other ways that they can help each other besides accountability. This is what I learned during that challenge.

Let me explain.

An Accountability Partner can help with Brainstorming

Have you ever had an idea for a great project, but you just couldn’t find a name that captured it perfectly? Or a pitch you had to make to a prospective client? Even if your company has a pitch book template, filling it up isn’t always easy.

Go to Market strategies and tactics need to take other factors into account.

With an accountability partner, you can try brainstorming to come up with a title that you love. Of course, your accountability partner can help you brainstorm many things besides a project name.

Together, you can brainstorm key content to be included, presentation ideas and marketing strategies. You would co-create ideas on what would make your company the ideal choice rather than price cut the competitors.

Likewise, an accountability partner can provide insights or even a different perspective to achieving a goal that you might have set your heart on. Their inputs can be valuable when you’re planning a strategy.

Having an accountability partner can keep you on track and improve your productivity. With this structure, it is unlikely you would become distracted from your goals. To avoid any feelings of overwhelm, an accountability partner can help you break down your goals into actionable and attainable steps.

When it comes to your career, your accountability partner can give you honest feedback, both positive and negative. Consider implementing consequences when specific goals are not met.

These could be in the form of financial penalties or admitting you let your partner down. On the other hand, brainstorm rewards that your partner can provide when you reach your goals.

An Accountability Partner can be a Referral Partner

Accountability partners can endorse or promote each other. There are times when referrals for team or department projects are asked for and this is an opportunity to support each other’s career.

Be sure to let the person asking for referrals or suggestions know that since you’ve already been accountability partners, you can vouch for their ethics and skills.

If you’ve been accountability partners with another colleague and you’ve found you enjoy working together, consider other ways you could support each other. Start by having an honest chat with your partner and telling her how you’d like to further your working relationship.

The same learning is relevant if you want to progress on your career track or are looking at a career change.

It’s often a reason why professionals engage an outside coach whether or not they are provided with a mentor within the organization.

Are You Ready To Find An Accountability Partner?

An accountability partner is a great way to motivate yourself and makes it more likely that you will achieve your goals. But an accountability partner is not a magic bullet. It won’t solve all your problems or make accomplishing your goal painless.

If you understand that, then you should know that having an accountability partner can make the journey toward your goals enjoyable and fun.

Here are signs that you’re ready for an accountability partner:

You’re willing to motivate yourself

If you don’t know how to motivate yourself already, then it won’t matter how many partners you have – you’ll still struggle. The best way to learn how to motivate yourself is to study projects and tasks you’ve completed previously.

For example, when you created your first assignment, was it the pressure of a deadline that you kept you going? The daily rewards you created for yourself after you finished each task? Study what you’ve done previously. This will give you plenty of ideas on what motivates you.

You’re willing to take responsibility

You’re not ready for an accountability partner until you can take responsibility for both your successes and your failures. It’s easy to dismiss your failures as being someone else’s fault or saying that “life just got in the way”. But this kind of approach means that you lack the discipline necessary to achieve your goals.

Remember it’s not an accountability partner’s job to change your life. It’s their responsibility to keep you on task and hold you accountable.

You’re willing to be transparent

Are you willing to share your bad habits, your deepest dreams and your biggest fears with someone else? Your accountability partner can’t help you unless you’re willing to be transparent.

You can’t hide out from your partner if you fail to meet a big goal or if you encounter roadblocks. You have to be open and honest with your partner if you really want your partnership to succeed.

You’re willing to accept feedback

Accepting feedback about your projects and goals from someone else is never easy. It can leave you feeling uncomfortable and challenged. Actually, that’s a good thing! If you’re too afraid to share what you’re working on or won’t talk about your goals, then don’t look for an accountability partner.

An important element of having an accountability partnership is being humble enough to accept feedback. Even if you don’t always agree with what your partner says.

An accountability partnership can be a beneficial relationship for both you and the other person.

But it’s important to remember that you’re making a big commitment when you agree to take on a partnership. That’s why you need to be willing and ready to help each other succeed.

Finding the “Right” Accountability Partner

As a professional looking for an accountability partner, you might be worried that you won’t find someone. While it’s true that competition is often fierce in the workplace, there are plenty of other professionals looking for accountability partners, too.

You’re not alone in your search and it can be helpful to have someone who understands what it is like to work in your organization while juggling both home and business responsibilities.

Make a List

The first thing you want to do when looking for an accountability partners is to make a list of people you already know that might be a good match. You can start by thinking of colleagues in your own department or other departments with whom you share a good rapport and who may have similar roles.

You should also think about any networking groups that you participate in. Is there anyone there that you connected with and feel might be a good match?

Of course, you don’t have to limit your search to offline networking groups. You can also look for a virtual accountability partner if you like. Make a post in Facebook or LinkedIn groups about your search.

Let people you meet know you are looking for one, and what your needs are. You may get a response from someone that would love to work with you.

Look for Matching Values

Carefully consider your potential accountability partner. You want someone in your corner that shares your values. If you have conflicting values, neither of you will get the most from your accountability sessions.

For example, if you value being seen as a team player, but your partner values being seen as better than the rest and wouldn’t think twice about putting others down to get ahead, then you aren’t going to enjoy your partnership very much. You can’t be supportive of each other because your values are not in alignment.

Before you agree to jump into an accountability partnership with someone, take time to do your research.

Are they always complaining about their boss or clients?

Do they share negative news constantly as part of office gossip?

Do people cringe when their name gets mentioned at meetings or at the office cafeteria?

These are all warning signs that you may not be a good match with this other professional.

Keep It Short Term in the Beginning

When you find someone that you think might make a good accountability partner, make sure to keep things casual at first. You want to agree to a limited trial time of six weeks to three months. After this time frame, you can evaluate your partnership and decide if you’d like to continue it.

For the first meeting, you’ll want to plan for an hour or so. This gives you and your partner time to talk about your core values, your goals, and your work principles. It can be exciting to get to know your accountability partner so take your time and don’t rush your first session together.

Consider Paid Options

Sometimes, you need more help than one or two partners can offer. In that case, you may want to consider paying to join an accountability group. These groups give you a chance to meet regularly online and talk with other professionals. If this kind of support still isn’t enough, consider hiring an executive coach to guide you through this season of your career.

It can take some time to find an accountability partner that you connect with. Just keep patiently searching and you’ll eventually discover one that’s a great fit for you.

Achieve more Goals with an Accountability Partner

Maybe you’re not where you want to be in your career or your life. You have goals, but you’re inching toward them. It feels like every step is a struggle and you’re just not seeing the results you want. You don’t feel motivated. You feel stuck and helpless to change.

You’re not alone in this feeling. Many people experience feelings of being stuck with their goals. You probably started out with plenty of energy but within a few days or a few weeks, your energy fizzled out.

Weeks and maybe even months have passed and you’re not any closer to achieving your goals.

An Accountability Partner might be the answer for You

An accountability relationship is a simple way to get back into gear and start moving toward your goals. It’s easy to set a goal and make no progress when no one is looking over your shoulder. But when you have an accountability partner slacking off is much harder. This is because we usually work harder to honor commitments we made to other people than we do the commitments we make to ourselves.

Think of Weight Watchers. It’s a weight loss program with accountability built right in. From the weigh-ins to the weekly meetings, members are accountable to each other. The meetings are filled with people that support each other in the goal to better their health and fitness.

Research by The American Society of Training and Development has shown that publicly stating our goals increases our chances of achieving them by 65%. Having a dedicated accountability partner boosts your chances of success to 95%.

An Accountability Partner will help you shape your Goals

An accountability partner can help you shape your goals, so you set ones that are achievable. For example, you could set goals to go back to school for your degree, start a side business, and spend more time with loved ones. An accountability partner would gently point out that those are good goals but will be difficult to achieve at the same time.

An Accountability Partner will help you breakdown your Goals

It’s good to set ambitious goals, ones that force you out of your comfort zone and make you grow. But ambitious goals have to be broken down into smaller steps. That’s where an accountability partner comes in. A smart partner can help you focus on taking one step at a time until you reach your big goals.

An Accountability Partner will help you deal with roadblocks

Everyone encounters roadblocks at some point when they go after their goals. But an accountability partner can help you brainstorm ways to get around your obstacles and find success.

For example, if your goal is to launch a personal website to share your thought leadership, but the tech stuff has you feeling confused, then your partner could offer both moral support and fresh solutions. Perhaps they know someone in their network who can simplify the technology for you.

With the support of an accountability partner, you’ll be able to escape the rut you’re in. You’ll also feel more energize and be able to tackle your goals once again.

An Accountability Partner can help you learn from their successes and mistakes

Having a conversation with your accountability partner can give you new perspectives on business through real-life examples. You can learn from other people’s successes as well as their mistakes in their careers or business. Having this type of partnership can help you identify challenges in your career goals and path that you may not have thought about before.

What to chat about with your Accountability Partner

If you’ve never had an accountability partner and are new to the idea, you may wonder how to handle this new relationship and what to discuss. Don’t fret – here’s how to get started with your accountability relationship.

Decide How & When You’ll Meet

You need to be having regular meetings with your accountability partner. These sessions might be in person at a local coffee shop or if you’re virtual accountability partners, then these meetings might be held on Skype or Google Hangouts. It doesn’t matter if you use technology to meet up or not, you need to have a regular meeting place.

How often you meet should come down to what works for you. It can be helpful to start meeting two to four times a month. This allows you both time to report on progress or setbacks as you encounter them.

But keep in mind that it’s OK to change your meeting place or time, depending on what’s going on in your life or your accountability partner’s life.

For example, if you become accountability partners with another co-worker or a coach during the summer months, then you may find that you need to adjust your meetings during the school year so that you can spend more time with your kids.

This is a normal part of a partnership. So don’t be afraid to periodically review your schedules to see if another time slot would work better for both you and your accountability partner.

Talk about your Goals

During your first session, you’ll want to talk about your values and goals with your partner. You’ll probably have a mix of short-term and long-term goals for your career or your life.

Your accountability partner can help you break down your long-term goals into easy, manageable steps.

For example, coming back to the personal website, if your long-term goal is to have a website with a blog that encourages readership and conversation, then your short-term action steps would be items like ‘purchase domain name and hosting’ or ‘contact a web designer to create my website or do a website building course’.

Follow Up with Your Partner

In follow up meetings, you’ll want to talk about what steps you took since your last session together. Did you complete all your action steps? Did you forget something or run into a problem that prevented you from completing one of your action steps? Can your accountability partner come up with ways to try to overcome this roadblock?

Don’t just talk about the hard stuff either. Be sure to celebrate when either one of you meets a milestone or accomplishes a goal.

Celebrating accomplishments can be simple—like going out for dessert together or if you’re virtual accountability partners, send your friend a small Amazon or Starbucks gift card. By celebrating your success together, you make it more likely that you’ll achieve even bigger goals.

Be patient with yourself and your new accountability partner as you learn how to navigate this new partnership. If something isn’t working for you, don’t be afraid to speak up and ask for what you need.

If you want an accountability partner or mentor outside of the workplace, then connect with me to explore if we are a good match. Click here to book a free no-obligation 30 Minute Free Career Breakthrough Consultation. It’s an opportunity to talk to me about the roadblocks in your career path and your desire to be seen as a Leader.