This is our third post in our Goals Series with Pádraic O’Maille (motivational speaker and business coach). We’ve posted previously about goal-setting and achieving. This time, we’re going to focus on accountability.

If you’re going to be successful when it comes to achieving your goals, you need someone or something that’s holding you accountable for your progress! Here are 3 ways you can do it.

1. Have a forfeit/reward system

One way to keep yourself and your team accountable to your goals is to reward when you’re on track and punish when you’re not.

  • Why?

Humans respond to reinforcement/punishment systems. It’s the type of psychology that’s involved in raising kids and training pets – and we, as adults, are no different!

  • How?

Reward yourself when you’re on track to achieving your goals – eg. order a big pizza dinner. Punishments are a bit more difficult to give to a team than to yourself (if it’s just you, give €300 to charity, for example). But lack of reward is generally punishment enough!

Keep the punishment/reward at the fore of your mind and you’ll also be constantly reminded of your goal! Watch an example of a punishment/reward system below.

2. Host weekly meetings specifically to catch up on goal progress

Another way to keep your team accountable is to host weekly progress meetings that catch all participants up with how your goal-achieving is going. Weekly meetings are a good as they keep goals at the top of everyone’s minds.

  • During the meeting discuss:
  • Goals
  • Progress
  • Targets
  • What’s going right
  • What’s going wrong
  • The meeting can be short and sweet but just make sure you cover all your bases. Ensure that everyone attends, even if they’re out of office for meetings or other work projects. Nowadays, all that’s needed is a quick Zoom.
  • Make sure that it’s consistent – don’t let it drift off after a few weeks. Keep it going and make it routine.

See our article on how to foster accountability in your meetings for more on specific tips on best practices during these meetings!

3. Host an annual meeting to plan overarching goals

Although weekly meetings keep your team on track for daily tasks, they also need a “bigger picture” reminder. Host an annual strategic planning meeting.

  • Instead of focusing on immediate tasks, centre on bigger, overarching goals.This is the time to dream big.

Ask key questions.

  • Where is the business right now?
  • Where do you want to be?
  • How can you get there?

Together, come up with a few big, ambitious goals. You’ll narrow down the focus later.

  • Go to a nice location, if possible, and treat it as an exciting day for the whole team to brainstorm. Meeting outside of the office once in a while is proven to have advantages for the business!
  • Ensure everyone is crystal clear on your exact goals by the end of the day. This means you’ll all be accountable to one another, going forward.

Watch the 60-second clip below to watch Pádraic explain how these yearly meetings are beneficial in his own words!

Summary

To start achieving your goals, you need to:

  1. Break your goals down into small, achievable steps.
  2. Visualise yourself completing your goals.
  3. Surround yourself with the right people.

With these three tips in mind, you’ll start to see an increase in how often you’re hitting your targets! They are simple but effective methods.

Do you have anything else you use to help you achieve your goals? Let us know in the comments! And stay tuned – we have plenty more information nuggets from Pádraic coming up over the next few weeks.