Getting it done, week after week
A short, regular check-in against things you have committed to, with someone who notices when you go quiet. The smallest programme we run, and the one people are most sceptical about beforehand.
- Three or four commitments, with dates
- A short check-in every week or fortnight
- The real blocker named
- Reviewed at ninety days against week one
- The lightest programme we run
- Step up or down at any point
For when you already know what to do
Most owners do not have an information problem. They know the price should go up, the debtor should be chased, the hire should be made, the subscription should be cancelled. It just never reaches the top of the day.
Accountability coaching is the cheapest programme we run because it is the smallest one. A short, regular check-in against things you said you would do, with someone who will notice and ask.
Deliberately light
- 1You set the commitments
Three or four things, each with a date. Not a strategy document — a list you would be embarrassed to read out unchanged next week.
- 2A weekly or fortnightly check-in
Short. What got done, what did not, and why. The reason something did not happen is usually the most useful thing in the call.
- 3The blocker gets named
Nine times in ten it is one of three things: it is unpleasant, it is unclear, or it belongs to someone else and has not been asked for.
- 4It gets reviewed at ninety days
Against what you actually said in week one, which we wrote down.
A fair question, honestly answered
If you consistently do what you say you will do without anyone asking, no. Nothing here will tell you something you do not know.
If you have started three of the last five things and finished none of them, then the missing ingredient is not information and buying more strategy will not supply it. This is the programme people are most sceptical about beforehand and rate most highly afterwards, which is worth knowing.
It is also the natural step down from a bigger programme. Several clients finish six months of one-to-one coaching and move onto this to hold the gains.
Three reasons, and only three
- It is unpleasant
- The price rise, the debtor, the conversation with the person who is not working out. Nobody forgets these; they are avoided. The fix is not a reminder, it is making it smaller — draft the email in the session rather than committing to send one this week.
- It is unclear
- “Sort out the website” will never get done because it is a topic that hides several jobs. Anything that survives on the list for three weeks is almost always under-defined rather than unimportant.
- It belongs to someone else
- You are waiting on a quote, a decision or a supplier and have not chased. On the list it looks like your failure; it is actually one email you have not sent, and naming that is usually the whole of the fix.
Said plainly, because it is the cheapest programme and the easiest to oversell
- Not more information
- You will not be told anything you do not know. If what you need is an answer rather than follow-through, ask an accountant or a bigger coaching programme is the right spend.
- Not a project manager
- Nobody does the task for you or chases your team on your behalf. What changes is that somebody notices, by name, on a date you agreed.
- Not a substitute for capacity
- If the reason nothing gets done is that you are working sixty hours in the business, no amount of asking will fix it. That is a resourcing conversation and we will say so rather than sell you check-ins.
- Not permanent
- Most people use this for two or three quarters, either to hold the gains after a bigger programme or to get through a specific period. Staying on it for years usually means it has stopped working.
What people ask about accountability coaching
How long is a session?
Short by design — a check-in rather than a meeting. Long enough to go through what was committed, what happened, and what is in the way.
What if I have not done anything?
Then that is the conversation, and it is a more useful one than a list of excuses would suggest. Nobody is told off. What we are looking for is the pattern in what does not get done.
Can I move up to a bigger programme?
Yes, either way round. Plenty of people start here and move to one-to-one coaching once it is clear the issue is the plan rather than the follow-through, and plenty come down to this after six months of something bigger.
What does it cost?
It is the lightest of the five programmes and priced accordingly. You get the figure on the discovery call.
How often are the check-ins?
Weekly or fortnightly, agreed at the start. Weekly suits a specific push over a quarter; fortnightly suits holding a rhythm over a longer period. Monthly is usually too long a gap for this to do its job.
What if I keep not doing things?
Then that is the work, and it is more interesting than the list. A pattern of the same item surviving four check-ins tells you something specific — usually that it is unpleasant, under-defined, or not actually yours — and each of those has a different fix.
Can somebody else in my business use it instead?
Yes, and occasionally that is the better answer. If the things not getting done sit with a manager rather than with you, the check-in is more use to them.
Will this feel like being told off?
No, and if it does it is being done badly. Nobody is marked. The question is always what got in the way, because that is the thing that can be changed.
