Have you heard about it?
Accountability coaching is a little-known secret in the entrepreneurial world, but people are catching on to its potential for maximizing productivity and helping you accomplish your goals.
But what is accountability coaching exactly, and how does it work?
To answer this, we’ve put together everything you need to know about accountability coaching so you can choose the right program and find the right accountability coach for you.
Let’s explore.
What Is Accountability Coaching?
“Accountability coaching” can best be understood with a simple definition of both words:
1. “Accountability” means being answerable to someone else for your actions
2. “Coaching” means providing support to someone to help them improve their performance so they can achieve their goals.
And so, an accountability coach is someone who helps you:
- Set clear and specific goals.
- Follows up with you regularly and tracks your progress.
- Reminds you to celebrate your successes.
- Offers insights for overcoming challenges.
- Provides strategies to improve your performance.
Simply put, an accountability coach will help you stay laser-focused on your immediate tasks so you can accomplish your long-term goals.
Why Accountability Coaching Works
It’s not that complicated really.
The simple fact is no one wants to look like a failure or a lazy slacker in front of others.
And most of us enjoy showing other people that we’re successful and that we’re achieving positive things in life.
The truth is, when you tell your accountability coach your goals and ask your coach to hold you answerable to them, you will strive harder to achieve them.
Conditioning
Accountability coaching works because most of us have been trained to meet external expectations since we were very young.
- Our teachers held us accountable to our homework and tests
- Our parents held us accountable to our chores and standards of behaviour
- And if you were ever an employee, your boss held you accountable to a certain level of work performance. Otherwise you’d be out of a job.
But when we leave that school setting or start our own business, there is usually a vacuum of accountability and we’re left on our own to motivate ourselves.
And when you only have yourself to answer to, it’s much easier to let things slide.
Since most of us have little to no history or experience with self-motivation and self-direction, we stumble.
So, when you hire an accountability coach who’s going to question your routine and check up on you, it rekindles those conditioned responses and creates an environment in which you can thrive.
Dedicated Support System
Accountability coaching works because it provides you with a dedicated support system.
When you have someone reminding you of your deadlines and keeping you focused and on track, it’s so much easier to resist distraction.
Procrastination can quickly become a problem that you used to deal with.
And this really is the secret sauce of accountability coaching.
It’s having someone committed in your corner, fighting for you on your behalf, encouraging you and compelling you to drive towards your goals.
A true accountability coach is like a trusted advisor who is working to bring out the best in you.
Benefits of Using an Accountability Coach
Ultimately, hiring an accountability coach is an investment.
It’s an investment in the growth of your business and in yourself as a leader and entrepreneur.
If you work with an experienced accountability coach over time, you will start to notice your work ethic improve and a momentum will build in your business.
You’ll become more disciplined, professional and driven.
Other benefits that you can expect:
Massive Growth
An accountability coach will help you cut through the feelings of being overwhelmed by helping you identify and prioritize your most important tasks so you can make the most efficient use of your time.
Check out these 6 benefits of business accountability coaching.
Increased Productivity
A good accountability coach will be intimately acquainted with time-tested and proven productivity strategies that successful people have been using for decades.
You might be surprised at the difference a few small tweaks in your routine can make.
To help you with this, I wrote a book called Master Your Productivity, which if full of these proven strategies.
Improved Personal Performance
Your accountability coach will help you identify and cut out the bad habits that are limiting your success and introduce new habits that you need to adopt to achieve your goals.
As they say, your habits create your future.
Better Mental Health
Being an entrepreneur is a grind and can be a heavy load to carry on your own.
With an accountability coach, that load will be shared.
This sense of relief, and knowing that you have a dedicated support system is extremely beneficial for your mental health.
Defeat Procrastination
An accountability coach will keep you honest about how you’re spending your time, so that you can become conscious and aware about what you’re doing throughout the day.
If you struggle with procrastination and need some immediate support, check out the 7-Step Blueprint to Overcome Procrastination.
Does Accountability Coaching Really Work?
Coaching Testimonials
In this instance, I’d rather let the testimonials from satisfied clients speak to the success of accountability coaching.
Because testimonials are the most powerful and accurate benchmark as to the success of a specific accountability program.
Stats from the American Society of Training and Development
I’ll also point you to some remarkable stats from a study by the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD).
They discovered that people have a 65% chance of reaching a goal if they have an accountability partner.
And that your chances of successfully reaching a goal rises to 95% when you establish an ongoing appointment with your accountability partner.
Here’s the complete breakdown:
- 10% probability of completing your goal, promise, task or activity – If you have an idea or goal.
- 25% probability of completing your goal, promise, task or activity – If you consciously decide you will do it.
- 40% probability of completing your goal, promise, task or activity – If you decide when you will do it.
- 50% probability of completing your goal, promise, task or activity – If you plan how you will do it.
- 65% probability of completing your goal, promise, task or activity – If you commit to someone you will do it.
- 95% probability of completing your goal, promise, task or activity – If you have a specific accountability appointment with a person you’ve committed to.
That’s powerful stuff and resounding evidence that accountability coaching really does work.
Here’s some more info on the details of how accountability coaching works.
Who Thrives with Accountability Coaching?
In my business, the clients that see the biggest gains are those high-performers.
These types are constantly looking to improve their performance and invest in themselves, confident that the return on their investment will be high.
They’re aware that they’re molding themselves into hard-charging engines of their own success.
These are the entrepreneurs who take action and recognize that accountability coaching will help them succeed over the long-haul by keeping them constantly aimed at the target.
If you can’t tell, I love working with entrepreneurs and here are five more reasons entrepreneurs thrive with accountability coaching.
Accountability coaching is not a punishment.
It’s a support system that keeps you laser-focused, clear-headed and committed to taking action.
The bottom line is: Accountability increases action and action equals growth.
Accountability Coaching Programs
An experienced accountability coach should have a number of programs available that they’ve fine-tuned over the years.
These are usually a mix of video and voice calls, email support, as well as goal and habit-tracker applications to choose from.
A quality program should provide you with an achievable action plan for you each and every week.
Here’s a link to my accountability programs to give you a clear idea of what you should expect.
The Focus is You
Accountability coaching isn’t just talking, though some clients do want to make use of the “sounding board” component so that they can flesh out their ideas and hear themselves think out loud.
Ultimately, the program should provide you with a step-by-step approach to achieve your goals, streamline your routine and give you solutions to overcome your known challenges.
Warranties and Guarantees
The coaching program should also have a limited-time, money-back guarantee to remove some of the risk to you in trying out the program.
An experienced accountability coach will have no apprehensions in offering this because he’s confident in the value that he’s offering.
So you can get a clear idea, here’s a detailed look at the first week of accountability coaching that I offer.
Remember, hiring an accountability coach is an investment in you and in the success of your business, career or personal goals, so you want to make sure you find the right trusted advisor for the job.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to Choose an Accountability Coach
Hopefully, you’ve come to see the value in retaining your own accountability coach, and now you just need to find one who is the right fit for you.
Obviously, your search should start online and I recommend finding someone who has testimonials from previous clients.
A Word of Warning
Make sure the testimonials come with real photographs and don’t all sound the same.
Yes, people fake testimonials, so just be aware of that.
Professional or Friend?
You might be tempted to ask a family member or friend to serve as your accountability coach, but this also comes with a warning.
It can be difficult for family and friends to have those hard conversations with you that you need for your own good.
You need a coach who is going to call you out when you need it and not be afraid to say what needs to be said.
Hiring a professional accountability coach will sidestep any emotional connections or previous relationship dynamics, and this will increase your odds for success.
In addition, it can be very challenging for friends or family member to consistently check in with you and commit to weekly phone calls at the same time, week-after-week and month-after-month.
Here are the top five qualities of a high-quality coach to consider when making your choice.
Friends and family will tend to cancel or change your appointment time or not be able to continue the accountability with your for a variety of reasons (busy with work, personal issues/challenges, losing interest, etc…).
A dedicated accountability coach will block out their calendar for you so that you can reliably get support every day and every week.
Here’s an article where I discuss everything you need to know to find a personal accountability coach.
Try a Coaching Call
One of the best ways to try out an accountability coach and see if their personality and system is right for you is with a free coaching call.
I offer a free 30-minute call because I don’t want you to feel rushed in your decision making process.
And I want to mention that this isn’t a sales call and there’s no obligation to sign up for coaching.
Take the Opportunity
During our call, it’s a good opportunity to get to know each other and to see if we’d be a good working match.
We’ll review your current goals and challenges and at the very least, you’ll know exactly which steps to take first in order to reach your goals faster.
You’ll also get some insights for how to overcome your current challenges.
If that all sounds good to you, you can schedule your free call on this page.
I promise that the call will be a valuable session for you and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how much we can achieve in 30 minutes.
To your success,
Nigel Cook
Accountability Coach
