A couple of weeks ago, I talked about the power of community. How sometimes it takes a village to nurture an idea, and that without a support network to share issues, problems, and concerns with, to celebrate your wins with, and to drag you out of your failures, it can be really easy to give up. You can read about that here.

Today, I’m going back to the idea of community, but this time in the context of holding yourself accountable. My tip? If you want to stack the odds in favor of your improvement initiatives, get involved in an accountability group.

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Unless you tell someone what you are going to do and commit to doing it by a certain date …well…it’s just way too easy to not do anything at all.

Join an Accountability Group

An accountability group is a group of like-minded people who support you and hold you accountable for doing the things you say you are going to do. You may already be involved with accountability groups in other aspects of your life - maybe it’s a fitness, a weight loss, or other programs where motivation plays a key role in your success.

A process improvement accountability group works the same way.

Members share what we call their “big three” — it could be 2, it could be 4, the number’s arbitrary, but the point is they share those things they’re committing to do before the next meeting. Members present their individual issues and concerns, the roadblocks and challenges that they’re facing, while the other members offer their ideas, advice, and support. Think of it as a crowdsourcing of innovation.

Having a group will keep you moving forward. You are much more likely to push yourself, invest time and effort, and try different ideas and approaches if you know that someone is watching you and ready to hold you accountable. The result: consistent improvement, a flatter learning curve, and accelerated success.

You May Think You Have All the Answers

And a word of caution for those who consider yourselves already masters of implementation. You are never too senior or too far along in your journey to benefit from an accountability group. You don’t have all the answers and you probably never will. Though you may be more of a mentor than a mentee in this group, you can still learn a tremendous amount even from those who are not as far along in the journey as you are. Their experiences and perspectives will enrich your understanding of the challenges that you’re facing.

Karen and I belong to a couple of accountability groups, and we rely on them for support as we continue to develop and market Gimbal’s online programs. Because we recognize their strategic importance to our growth, we are actively encouraging people in the Practice Accelerator Membership to create accountability groups of their own.

So why wouldn’t you stack the odds in your favor? Find and join a group with the right kind of people who will encourage you, support you, hold you accountable, and be with you along your journey.

And that’s it for this week’s tip.

Thanks a lot everybody!