How an accountability group can help your small business succeed

Di Crawford Errington Author

Learn how an accountability group can help you focus on business growth. Get 8 tips to set up a successful group and smash your goals.

Previously published 15 June 2021

It’s one of those tricky balancing acts most business owners struggle with right? – how to spend as much, if not more time on their business as in their business. This is something I struggle with myself as a small business owner.

An accountability group can help you strategize for future growth and set goals that move your business forward. Most importantly, checking in with other people on a regular basis to report on your progress makes it much more likely you’ll take action and get things done. It is so worth taking the opportunity to get some support to create success for your business, or starting your own.

Whether you decide to join a group locally or meet over the internet, sign up for a paid group or set one up yourself, the key to success with an accountability group is consistency.

We have put together some information, so you can learn more about how to organize an accountability group and make yours a success.

Best practices for accountability groups

It’s a good strategy to keep your group small – three to six members at most. A small group means you can keep your meetings short and still have time for everyone to check in, and there are fewer schedules to accommodate when setting up meetings.

These 8 tips will help you set up an effective group:

• Search your network to find members who will actively participate. Look to local business meet ups, social media groups, and your contacts from networking events, conferences, etc.
• Although members don’t need to come from the same industry or be in exactly the same place in their business, it’s important everyone is committed, like-minded, supportive, and focused on problem solving.
• Schedule regular meetings. Meeting once or twice a month can work well for accountability groups. Every two weeks gives members enough time to accomplish their goals, and it’s often enough to stay motivated but not so often it’s tough for members to make time for.
• Build time in the agenda for everyone to share progress and bring new ideas or challenges to the table for discussion and feedback.
• Be supportive and flexible. If a member doesn’t achieve his or her goal, help them set a new or revised goal for next time.
• After sharing progress, let these two questions guide the meeting each week: “What is the most important goal for my business right now?” and “What steps will I take to achieve it?”
• Ask how you can help other members. Sometimes we all need a sounding board, other times advice; sometimes we don’t know what we need until someone jumps in and offers!
• If members aren’t able to meet, stay accountable to each other. You can share progress by email to avoid missing a meeting and losing momentum.

Final thoughts

Keeping your business plan up to date can help you stay focused on your big picture goals, and set strategies that tie in with your overarching plans. If it’s been a while since you’ve updated your business plan (or you don’t have one), keep it simple. A one or two page plan is all you need (a book that you will never read is no use to anyone right?).

If you find it difficult to set smart goals, try starting with the end result and work backwards. This article on backward goalsetting can help you break each goal down into more manageable parts. Alternatively, we deliver Business Planning sessions as outlined in our previous blog.

If you would like to join an accountability group, we facilitate these for small businesses locally (Northland NZ) and online worldwide – Contact us for more information.

Categories: : Strategy