How to be an accountability partner (guidelines)
1. Be Supportive: Be the wind at their back, not the weight on their shoulders. Be critical and push them to stay committed but be sure your feedback is actionable.
2. Focus on the Goal: Shortcomings will happen, mistakes will happen, accept these as a reality and address them honestly as they arise but never lose sight of the goal and continue to support your partner in that direction.
3. Create a Schedule: Decide together how often you will touch base and in which format (phone call, text, voice notes? daily? weekly? etc.)
4. Communicate well, Communicate often: Be direct and honest with your partner about what you’re feeling and experiencing. Ask difficult questions, share your observations and keep matters appropriately confidential.
5. Share your Experiences, not your Advice: Replace “I think you should…” with “What I did in a similar situation is…”. Replace “Wow that must feel horrible.” with “Wow how does that make you feel?”
6. Create a Framework: Share your goals and a realistic time frame to achieve them. Express the areas that you’re aware of you need support in. Be honest about your own needs and your availability to support your partner is.
7. Have fun and get to know each other! This is a journey you’re embarking on together, not a one night stand. Share what’s appropriate to achieve your goal, but also get to know each other to what ever degree you feel comfortable with. This is a two-way commitment and the more you both invest the more you will gain! 😁
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Let’s do that
Thank you for all the helpful recommendations. I am going to write these down in my notebook as a daily reminder.
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