Meaningful Work Milestone: Curious Accountability

(Updating this post.  The e-book is finished and you can get it here!  Let me know what you think and how you use CA with your clients)

Over the last four years I have been on a unique journey of learning that is about to reach a very meaningful completion point.  Fellow coach Casey Moore and I have released our e-book that is a culmination of our collective work with regard to positive accountability practices with clients.  Below is an excerpt from Chapter 1 regarding the need for upgrading our thinking about accountability.  Why the four year focus on accountability with classes, presentations and too many writing sessions to mention?  I can't speak for Casey but for myself I think it has something to do with discovering my own meaningful work.  I have found that Curious Accountability is an essential part of every coaching partnership and especially for my clients with ADHD.

Curious Accountability: Three Coaching Conversations for Better Client Results provides a step-by-step process for coaches to help clients understand how accountability can be a positive tool in getting their own meaningful work done.

The Time Is Right for New Thinking on Accountability

Fortunately, we no longer embrace the methods of work that were commonplace a century ago. As we move more and more into a knowledge and information-based work culture we adapt practices and philosophies that evolve with the work. So why is it that our idea of accountability has not evolved with how we engage through our workday? Why do many organizations still embrace elements of a traditional accountability distilled a century ago? The notion of self-sufficiency and self-determination is romantically appealing but inadequate in this day of collaboration. The “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality lacks curiosity and innovation.

It is time that our thinking on accountability evolves to reflect the innovation and creativity that pervades our current age of work. As the popularity of coaching increases so, too, does the desire for effective accountability practices. Clients hire coaches in part to improve accountability, whether to change their productivity or their lives. More businesses are using mentors and internal coaches than ever before. Businesses are realizing that productivity and ultimately the bottom line are directly related to return on investment. No accountability, no ROI. No ROI, no profits or sustainability.