The Harshest Advice We Ever Got: Extreme Accountability - SWI #66

Read time: 3 mins

“If you’re not achieving your goals, it’s your fault.”

Ugh. How harsh is that?

We call this extreme accountability - and we consider it a fundamentally important mindset to have for small business owners who want to grow.

Today we’re talking about what extreme accountability is, why it matters, and how to apply it in your business.

Strap in, let's go!

WHAT’S EXTREME ACCOUNTABILITY?

For us, it means consistently taking responsibility if something falls short of our expectations, and knowing it’s up to us to fix it.

If our business isn’t making enough profit this month, it’s on us.

Not customers who just don’t get it, the economy, or bad luck.

If a team member isn’t doing what we asked, it’s on us.

Not their incompetence or laziness.

Even if we get stuck in traffic and are late for a meeting…

You guessed it - it’s on us.

Some of you will hate this idea.

You may have blamed the economy, frustrating people, or the traffic already today.

But here’s why we love it:

When we take extreme accountability, we’re empowering ourselves to take the reins of growing a successful business.

It’s easy to blame others when things go wrong.

If it’s someone else’s fault, we don’t have to change. They do.

But when it’s our fault, we’re the ones who have to do the hard work and self-reflection:

• If we want to make more profit, we need to design a better product, or get better at marketing or sales.
• If we want a team member to do what we ask, we need to be better at communicating what we want, or have stronger incentives and consequences for performance.
• And if we want to be on time for meetings? We need to leave in enough time to allow for crappy traffic.

We’re accountable for our success.

Not anyone or anything else.

EXTREME ACCOUNTABILITY IN YOUR BUSINESS

What would it look like in your business?

Here are the 4 steps we take - if you want to try it out:

1- Believe you’re accountable for EVERYTHING that happens in your business:

• If something goes wrong? Your fault.
• When you don’t get the outcome you wanted ? Your fault.
• When your metrics are not hitting their target? Your fault.
  
  

2- When something goes wrong, examine it from the extreme accountability frame of mind:

• How did I contribute to this?
• What can I learn from this?
• How will I be better next time?
  
  

3- Take action based on your reflection, which could include:

• Being better planned or prepared
• Learning a new skill or getting better at a current weakness
• Investing in expert help
• Putting in processes, controls or contingencies, etc.
  
  

Try doing this even when something goes wrong that is far removed from yourself, e.g.:

• It wasn’t in your control (e.g. weather)
• You didn’t know about it
• It was someone else’s responsibility

If you believe you are TRULY accountable for everything in your business, you will still find ways to take action.

You can always do something.

4- Role model it for your team:

• Imagine everyone you worked with did the same? Where instead of blaming, everyone was solution focused? This is where true magic happens.
• If you can instill extreme accountability in your culture, you’ll have a high-performing team that takes responsibility when things go wrong, prioritises problem-solving, and takes action to implement solutions.
  
  

If you take this approach, action becomes inevitable.

And with action comes outcomes.

Outcomes like growth, profit, and impact for you and your business.

We think it’s worth it.

What do you think?

Speak soon,

Lynne & Steve

TLDR:

• Extreme accountability means holding yourself accountable for everything that happens in your business.
• Adopting an extreme accountability mindset puts you in the driver's seat of growing your business - you're in control because you're responsible for taking action.
• You can adopt extreme accountability in your business with 4 steps and start to see the benefits as your business grows.