1 Minute Wins #59: Accountability in Action

Accountability turns intention into execution.
Own the work, and the results will follow.

#Leadership #Accountability

Transcript

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Welcome to Dr. Dana More. One quote. One lesson. One action to help you lead yourself and others better. Let's jump in.

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Howdy, everybody. Welcome back to Oh, I almost said the wrong podcast. Welcome back to One Minute Wins. I am Dr. Dana Martin. Um, yeah, there is another podcast I do. It's called the Sith Dominion Podcast, and it is a Star Wars Dark Side based podcast. Go head over to YouTube, TikTok, all the stuff and things. And uh Star Wars interests you, especially a little walk on the dark side, uh please go check it out. But that's not why you're here today. What you're here for is one minute win number 59, accountability in action. Let's start with the reality that kind of separates the talk from the results. Everybody wants success, not everybody wants accountability. Because accountability removes excuses, it forces alignment between what you say and what you do. Integrity. Our quote today is from John C. Maxwell. Responsibility equals results. Own both. That is leadership in one sentence. So today we're talking about why accountability accelerates achievement and how leaders build it into their daily mantra, their daily rhythm. Accountability accelerates achievement. And without accountability, then our goals are all over the place, and our standards begin to lessen, and progress as a whole slows to a creep or a crawl, right? But with accountability, our focus can sharpen, our consistency improves, and results follow. Productivity. Accountability isn't pressure, it's clarity. I haven't used clarity in a couple of episodes. Accountability isn't pressure, it's clarity. It answers that one simple question. Did I do what I said I would do? And that question drives performance. I once worked with a team that had strong goals, but very inconsistent with their execution, their plans and their their thought process and outlines, everything was wonderful, solid. Intentions were great and high, but follow-through was terrible. No one would check in, no one measured their progress consistently. So we introduced real simple accountability. Weekly check-ins, not a big meeting, just a weekly check meeting to clear any ownership and visibly track what's happening. Small meeting. Everyone attended, everyone left with a sense of I feel like I know what's happening. Everything changed. And the performance didn't improve because we changed a strategy. We had all the projects in place. It improved because the accountability did. So what's the data say? American Society of Training and Development found that people have a 65% chance of completing a goal when they commit to someone else. Accountability partners. This happens all the time in the gym. We need accountability partners everywhere. Want to know something else? That number of 65% jumps to 95% when they have a specific accountability appointment with that person. Whoa, what? Not 5%. You didn't you didn't miss here. 95%. American Society of Training and Development found that people have a 65% chance of completing a goal when they commit it to someone else, and a 95% chance when they have a specific accountability appointment with that person. Not 5%. That's not what I said. I said 95%. Accountability exponentially, dramatically increases follow-through. That's not motivation, it's just structure. Here's another way to look at it. You must hold yourself accountable before you can hold others accountable. How many times have we heard this? I don't know where that came from. My dad said it. Leadership starts internally. You can't demand discipline from anyone else if you don't model that discipline for yourself. Accountability isn't going, isn't something that you enforce first. It's something you demonstrate first. My mantra in the book that I'm currently writing is be the example. That's accountability. That's be the example for yourself first, then be the example to others. And there's been many times in my own journey where I set the goals and they sounded great and strong and definitely achievable, but what lacked? I had no accountability partner. So I had no timeline, no check-in, no external force helping me be accountable to myself. And guess what happened? They just stayed as ideas. Everything I thought of. All of these great and wonderful book ideas. They stayed ideas. But when I brought someone into my process, my wife, I shared my goals, I set the expectations, and then I created follow-up using my book. It's buried over here. The path to dark side domination. You can find that one on Amazon also, the Dark Side Journal. But when I did all those things, things started happening. Progress accelerated and accountability by having someone know my path, it turned into intention followed by execution. So how do we do it? Four, four, four, four ways. Number one, make the goal visible. Hidden goals rarely get done. Number two, assign ownership clearly. If everyone owns it, nobody owns it. Number three, schedule check-ins, accountability, need structure. Number four, follow through consistently. Don't skip the review, the debrief session. Learn from it. What are the four? Number one, make goals visible. Number two, assign ownership clearly. Number three, schedule check-ins. Number four, follow through consistently. Accountability isn't about control, it's about commitment. So, what's our question to think on today? Where do you need more accountability? And I don't mean generally, like I could be more disciplined and get up early and go to the gym. I mean specifically. What have you been relying on? Motivation instead of structure. And that's the action step. Share your goal with someone who will check in with you and hold you accountable to checking in with them. Not someone who will just lift you up and agree, and yes, you're the greatest. Someone who's going to follow up. That one step changes execution. Accountability builds trust. And when leaders follow through, credibility increases. When they don't, everything weakens. Strong cultures don't form because goals are set. They form because goals are tracked. Countability is not optional, it is foundational. Wow. Accountability's fun. Thank you all so much for listening. Uh we will see you for number fifty-nine. You've been listening to One Minute Wins with me, Dr. Dana Mark. For more information about me and how I might be able to help you or your organization, go over to DMILM.com. For more about all of that. Go to Amazon.com find one minute wins. Volume one. Take control of your approach journey one minute at a time. Remember, be the example.