COLUMNIST – STRATEGY
What is it to be accountable? Paul Green Accountability is defined as “an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions“. A lot of businesses I come across do find it difficult to get sh*t done and move their businesses forward. Rather than the things-to-do list getting shorter, it just seems to get longer. The problem with this is it has a compound effect on the whole process of taking action to achieve the goals you have set yourself, causing you to be… ■ overwhelmed & frustrated ■ stressed & anxious ■ annoyed with yourself And if that wasn’t enough, other things can kick in causing the situation to get worse rather than better:
The cost of no trust High-Trust v Low-Trust what we know: ■ Compared with people at low-trust organisations people at high-trust organisations report 74% less stress. ■ Research has shown that having a sense of
■ procrastination? ■ lack of focus and enthusiasm? ■ distractions? This means that your business is potentially stagnating or at least just plodding along. If you find yourself in this situation, it is not easy to pull yourself out of that particular rut…so what can you
higher purpose stimulates oxytocin as does
do? The first step is to notice that you are in this
trust. They mutually reinforce one another
dilemma in the first place. Then you can start to
producing more oxytocin which produces
put things in place to help you focus, for example:
happiness.* ■ Joy at work comes from doing purposedriven work with a trusted team. ■ Oxytocin the research tells us increases a person’s empathy. ■ High stress inhibits the production of oxytocin. ■ High-Trust organisations are 286% more productive than low-trust organisations.** The best way I can think to illustrate the value of trust is to make it clear what happens when there
■ Turn off notifications ■ Limit how often you check emails ■ Allot chunks of time to focus on your actions ■ Avoid social media and other rabbit holes What can help is getting yourself an “accountability partner” to support keeping you on track. When you are beholden to someone else, it seems that most people are more likely to get their actions done and get cracking with their business. If any of this resonates and you need some help with getting your list of tasks from to-do to done, then check out the BusComm Accountability Circle.
is a lack of trust in relationships and, in this context, the team. If trust is low in the team, then you will question whether your colleagues or the team leader have your back. You will be second guessing what they are saying and whether they will deliver on their promises. All of this slows down the process.
The Business Community 07949 703137 paul@buscomm.co.uk buscomm.co.uk
