As a business owner, it’s critical to stay focused and consistently make the effort to achieve the business results that you want. As your business grows, complexity increases, making it even more challenging to stay on track to meet your goals.
For business owners working solo, maintaining the needed laser focus can be arduous. Wearing multiple hats, overwhelming responsibilities and isolation can easily break concentration and cause distraction from your vision.
Bob Proctor once said, “Accountability is the glue that ties commitment to the results.” In that spirit, Business Accountability Teams (BATS) have proven to be effective accountability tools for business owners who are working alone.
Your Business Accountability Team:
For optimal effectiveness, a BAT should consist of six business owners. Having more than six members dilutes the time available for each business. Additionally, it becomes challenging to build a larger group into an effective, cohesive management team that supports every member. Having fewer than six members tends to limit the diversity of ideas and perspectives.
Your BAT should ideally represent a cross-section of growing businesses. To foster a supportive environment, it’s important to avoid having competing businesses on the same team.
While your team operates democratically, with every member being equal, it is advisable to select a team leader for smoother and more focused sessions. Rotating this role allows business owners to develop and improve their team management skills.
Member Responsibilities:
The effectiveness of BATs relies heavily on the commitment and contributions of individual members. Each person must be open and willing to work collaboratively, providing the necessary assistance to help their colleagues succeed in their business. Specifically, each business owner must:
- Have a documented plan.
- Share their plan with the other team members.
- Commit to remaining with the team for at least six months.
- Maintain confidentiality regarding all discussions within the team.
The Process:
Referring to an agenda, BATs gather for three to four hours during business hours once a month. It’s important that the location (virtual or in-person) supports uninterrupted time to work together.
Session dates are pre-booked for six months and considered immovable. Altering these dates disrupts the schedules of other members and ultimately causes the team to drift apart.
These monthly meetings with a well-defined agenda become the backbone of your BAT success.
Suggested Agenda Framework:
- Positive Focus: Each member shares the most significant positive event in their business during the previous month.
- Accountability: Reporting back on the targets set in the previous session. Acknowledge achieved targets and assess the impact of those that were not met. Discuss possible actions that could have been taken to meet these targets.
- Setting Targets: Identify and clearly define measurable targets that must be achieved in the next month. Explain why they are critical to your plans and highlight the consequences of not meeting them.
- Business Issues: Present any business issues requiring assistance from the team.
While meeting monthly is crucial, the magic of BATs extends beyond these sessions. Encouraging team members to collaborate and support each other outside of regular meetings brings even greater commitment and accountability.
Start Now!
It takes time to establish an effective BAT. If you want to reap the benefits of a strong team for accountability and growth, you need to set your criteria and reach out to like-minded business owners now.
We have a “rolodex” of Business Owners who would benefit from the synergy and structure of a BAT. If you’re interested in taking this idea further, be in touch and we’ll happily coordinate an introduction.
