Why Should You Have an Accountability Partner?
Why should you have an accountability partner?
Solopreneurship is lonely and a little scary. I ran marketing departments in corporate America for over twenty years, was responsible for 30+ people and over $40MM in media budgets. I’ve been running my own business for almost two years and it feels like so much more responsibility. I’ve put my family at risk by following my passion and not bringing in my consistent paycheck and benefits that go along with it. I’m expected to do everything from marketing and sales to accounting and my all-time favorite, being my own I.T. person. It’s hard and its scary and there are days I want to quit. BUT the good days, the days that I bring on a new client or I learn a better way to get my message out there. WOW! They make up for it all and ignite that passion all over again.
I credit my accountability partner Ron for helping me have more of the “Good Days”. Is accountability partner the right title? Hmmm, I’m not sure. He’s my cheerleader, my brainstormer, my help line and now one of my best friends. We’ve been meeting every Friday for a year and it’s the one time on my calendar that I WON’T MISS. Let me tell you what I have learned about why it works and why we work well together.
See Ron and I are built very differently. The way we think, the way we approach a problem or an opportunity. He is more of a thinker where I am more of a risk taker, influencer and relationship builder. Ron has a broad perspective, he thinks about the past, the present and the future when he tackles any issue. Me, well I dive in head-first and have about a four-day window that I live in. I figure it out as I go, he thinks deeply about things and has a plan. It sounds like we should drive each other crazy, right?
The differences don’t stop there.
· Ron is a consultant for several Healthcare providers, I help students figure out a career path after high school and ultimately a college major.
· He works with large corporations; I work with young adults.
· His focus is B2B clients, mine is B2C.
Our focuses are different, but it works, and here is why. When I jump into something fast, Ron helps me slow down and asks me about the risks he is so vividly seeing. He thinks about how my actions will affect the future and asks me thoughtful questions about how that might look. Does it fit with my goals and can I live with the possible outcomes? On the flip side, I help Ron speed up. When he is considering every angle and trying to make predictions on what can be, I push him to get started. I am extremely comfortable with figuring it out as I go along and help him know taking the first step is not really a risk, just more information to throw into his crazy, beautiful, complicated brain. I have a sixth sense about people and how to get them interested and involved with my ideas. I help Ron with ways to present his ideas to his clients.
We complement each other because we are NOT the same. We encourage each other because we are NOT the same. We make each other better because we are NOT the same.
Ron and I do have one thing in common, we are both CliftonStrengths coaches. We walked into our partnership knowing we were built differently because of our Strengths. We knew I was much more comfortable in influencing people and building relationships. We knew Ron was much happier thinking strategically.
Many people “know” their natural talents, but it is hard for them to put it into words. The CliftonStrengths assessment helps you understand your natural talents and clearly defines why you do the things you do. We lean on each other’s Strengths because we know, when we are using our Strengths, they energize us and make us happy. When we try to play in areas that we are not naturally talented, it drains us.
By the way, I am very comfortable knowing I will never be a strategic mastermind. It’s not how I’m built. I do know the people around me I can reach out to that love helping me with strategy! You don’t have to take this assessment to find your own partner in crime, but I highly suggest it!
Here are some things that I have learned about finding an accountability partner and making it work.
1. Look for someone that is NOT like you
2. Try out a few people. You can have multiple accountability partners. The partnerships that do not work will naturally “go away” and its O.K. This is a big commitment, find someone that is as dedicated to it as you are and that can push you to be better. This should feel very comfortable as time goes on. Ron and I hit our stride fairly quickly. It was never uncomfortable but became effortless within a couple of months.
3. Have an agenda, don’t have an agenda? Decide what works for you. Ron plans what he wants to talk about, I come in willy-nilly. Are you seeing a trend? It works for each of us.
4. Meet consistently. We meet every week because a lot can go on in a week. We have missed our meetings two times in a year. Life happens, we didn’t sweat it. If it happens more often, see #2.
5. Be prepared to talk about your business and your personal life. It matters. Life is messy and all your experiences give your partner an idea of who you are and how they can support you. However, this is still a “business relationship” so there will need to be boundaries. You have to decide what that means for your relationship.
6. Tell your partner when they have helped you. Let’s face it, it feels good to know you helped someone. When you are using your talents, it is so innate that you don’t think you are doing anything special. It’s nice to have confirmation, and quite frankly a reminder, that you have these amazing Strengths that other people appreciate.
7. Take the CliftonStrengths assessment (this is optional, and I obviously have a bias!). This can happen before you look for a partner and can help you with determining the type of partner you are trying to find (see #1). If you have an accountability partner now, you can both take the assessment. It can help you figure out why the partnership is working or maybe even why it isn’t. (This works for personal partnerships too!)
I expect that Ron and I will work with each other for a very long time. It just works for us in so many amazing ways. I hope you can find a partnership that helps you get through the sometimes soul crushing lows and the amazing highs of running your own business!