Why Accountability is important when growing a Business

As a business owner you are in a unique position, one that is reliant on prioritising your workload and time management at all times. This is because not only are you responsible for the operations of your business on a daily basis, you also need to be focused on its longer term growth.

It is therefore unsurprising that at times it can feel like you are juggling too many balls in the air and are just waiting for them to come crashing down around you.

Being a business owner can be a lonely business

Many business owners report experiencing feelings of isolation and loneliness at various points throughout their careers. The very nature of what you are trying to achieve as an entrepreneur can seem overwhelming as the pressure of having to do everything weighs heavily on your shoulders.

Many people find themselves isolated, as they hide their struggles from the public eye in the hope that people will not realise their weaknesses. However, attempting to tackle the hurdles themselves they often end up deeper in despair or repeating the same unproductive cycles – as they let panic take control leaving decision making somewhat erratic.

As a business owner do any of the following behaviours sound familiar?

• You jump from one task to the next without completing any well and time management becomes a problem
• You find that you spend a lot of time procrastinating
• There never seems enough time to work on the business
• You struggle with setting achievable goals

If any or all of the above apply to you it may be time to introduce some accountability into your business perhaps, by working with a business coach.

Prioritising is key to your success 

Many business owners can become so focused on the day-to-day tasks that they lose sight of the bigger picture.

A business coach gives you somebody to be accountable to. Somebody who will help you prioritise, get more focused and stay on track to achieve your biggest goals. Your coach can help you move forward, by helping you stay focused and prioritise what’s most important to you. Distraction is often the biggest issue to overcome.

A coach also serves as an accountability partner who challenges you to strategise and develop your goals while aligning your efforts toward achieving them. Quite often this fresh perspective gives you a completely new way of looking at things you’ve looked at a hundred times before.

Entrepreneurs can have too many ideas 

As a business coach I’ve often found that many entrepreneurs become overwhelmed as they just can’t keep up with their own ideas. They have a tendency to jump from one idea to the next and find it difficult to come up with and implement processes fast enough to make the ideas take traction or bear fruit.

Business coaching allows you to have somebody to bounce ideas off and help you filter out which ones are viable to help you achieve your goals. It can be a great way of helping you stay on track rather than taking a wrong turn for a prolonged period of time with little to no return.

Clients have described it as having a very skilful navigator along with them for a road trip; helping them identify the most direct route to the desired destination, cutting out unnecessary pit stops or accidental detours along the way.

Your personality gets in the way

Another issue to consider is that many entrepreneurs by their very nature have a certain type of personality which dislikes accountability. Many lull themselves into the false belief that the restrictions you feel from accountability are in direct opposition to the freedom you long for by being a business owner

But what does freedom actually mean to you and are there different ways of looking at this?

Entrepreneurs are typically visionary, but often don’t have what it takes to execute a lot of their own plans. So, they need accountability, and it is this accountability that can bring true freedom to a business owner as they escape the chaos that their personality type can bring to the table.

By having somebody to bring calm and consistency to their daily lives the chaos is lessened helping to make freedom become more possible to a business owner.

It can be described as somebody holding a mirror up to you and giving you authentic feedback so that you can see which areas you need support in.

Have found yourself making excuses recently for not achieving what you set out to do? 

Perhaps now is the time to consider a business coach to help keep you accountable so that you can achieve the dreams you set for yourself.