From the course: Small Business Secrets

Understanding the basics of accountability in small business

From the course: Small Business Secrets

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Understanding the basics of accountability in small business

- Building accountability into your small business is necessary for your success. Accountability is part of what I call the SAM Cycle. SAM standing for Systems Accountability and Motivation. Now, accountability is something that I define very specifically. Accountability is a relationship one-to-one with someone else where they follow up with you and make sure things are getting done. I can be personally responsible but accountability requires someone else. Why someone else? Well, think about it like you're trying to improve your golf swing. You can read books, you can read magazines, you can look at videos, and all of those things might give you tips on how to improve, and it might help you improve a little bit, but when you involve a third party, a coach, that person can be outside of you and look at the little adjustments that you need to make and they're better suited to help you improve. Improvement dramatically increases when accountability is a part of that improvement process. Now, who do you need to hold accountable? First of all, employees need your follow up and your guidance. When you follow up with them and hold them accountable, they'll succeed better in their job. Also consider holding contractors and freelancers accountable. You can do that by checking on deadlines with them and using project management software. And believe it or not, customers may need your accountability. If you're working on a big project with a customer, you're going to want to have a system of regularly following up with them. How do we go about doing that? What are some of the details? Well, first of all, whenever we delegate something to someone else, we want to create a "When." The "When" means, this is when you're going to complete it, and if they give you a "When," for instance, next Tuesday at seven-thirty, you're going to write in your notepad what they're going to complete next Tuesday at seven-thirty, and then create a reminder for yourself to follow up with them. The first time you follow up with them, maybe they don't do it, but the second time you follow up with them, they know that there is now a culture of accountability. Accountability also comes from training, where you give people guidance and help, sort of like that golf coach example. You're going to help them make small corrections along the way, and that helps them improve. Another part of providing accountability is training. This is where you're giving those people who work for you guidance and improvement. You can even use lynda videos to supplement the training that you provide to them. And, also, you want to have a consistent one-to-one meeting schedule, this is so important. By having a consistent time and place where you meet with them, you'll be able to avoid all the small interruptions that take place during the week, and then, you can sit down and go through those questions together by bringing up your list of things that I need to discuss with this employee. And last of all, you can get accountability. You can find someone who's going to follow up with you and train you and help you succeed in the long run. You can find a coach, you can find a mentor, even find a peer who will follow up and create that culture of accountability, because it's lonely at the top and it's difficult to self-correct. Build accountability into every part of your business. Make it a part of your culture and you will find that over time, performance improves.

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