Yesterday we opened the topic of accountability for leaders. Today let’s focus on what it looks like to have a structured approach to an accountability relationship. While I’m more of a non-structured type of person by nature, I have found that at the start of any formal relationship it’s better to have structure. Over time the structure may relax, or it may always stay in place as a framework for effective accountability. After all, an accountability relationship will become a friendship over time, and your accountability partner may even become one of your best friends, but the purpose of the relationship is mutual growth through accountability.
The type of accountability relationship you’re developing will determine the type of structure that works best for you. For example, when my accountability and I started to meet our goal was to become more effective followers of Jesus as men, husbands, dads and through our work. While that was an ambitious emphasis, those roles overlap in everyday life. Because our goal was mainly growth and accountability in our spiritual lives, we used specific books designed for either Christian growth or accountability as the basis for our meetings. One of the books was titled Discipleship Essentials. The book contained twenty-four lessons designed to help the participant develop essential skills for living as a disciple of Jesus Christ. We worked our way through the lessons, and also asked each other specific questions of each other in each area of our development. (More on the types of questions we asked tomorrow.)
At times we also chose specific books of the Bible to read through and then discuss in our times together. This was not a Bible study per se. The goal was to glean and discuss the principles from the texts we read that would help us develop us men, husbands, dads and in our work. Sometimes we read the texts ahead of time and came prepared to share what we had learned. At other times we read the texts together and discussed them as we went. Once again, this was a specific type of accountability for the purpose we had decided.
You may have an accountability partner who helps you with spiritual growth, or it may be a matter of maintaining personal integrity, or work productivity. It’s important to establish the purpose of your accountability relationship and at the outset to have a structured approach for your times together. As mentioned above, over time the structure may relax or you may maintain it depending on your personalities and the effectiveness of your times together.
While talking about structure, one of the most important matters to establish is timing. Both how often you meet and how long you will meet each time needs to be established and honored. For example, if you are going to meet weekly for ninety minutes, then you’ll need to make every effort to carve out those ninety minutes every week. Over the more than twenty years Bill and I have met, we have not missed many weeks, and when we do it’s because of vacations, or unavoidable work or personal conflicts. Sometimes when we can’t meet on our established day, we’ll meet at another time during the week. In addition to making the weekly or bi-weekly meeting a priority, honoring the sixty, ninety or whatever number of minutes you establish for the meeting is also important. Don’t have an open-ended time frame for your meeting, particularly if you are a schedule-conscious person. It’s in everyone’s best interest to treat your accountability “appointment” as an appointment rather than as a casual get together. Flexibility is fine, but at first establishing a structured time slot and honoring will help your accountability relationship get established, and be something to which you look forward each week.
When Bill and I first started meeting we would purposely have some time to catch up on the events of the week, then turn to our study, then ask the established questions and then pray together. We didn’t have a printed schedule, but that was the schedule we had in our minds. It helped us to keep within our time frame and also to make sure we were holding one another accountable in the areas we had established. If this all seems too structured to you, you probably have a personality similar to mine. It seemed a bit artificial, and over time my time with Bill has become much more casual in the structure, while still covering the important aspects the structure established in our relationship. As we’ll see on Friday, every accountability relationship changes over time and the way you structure yours will be part of that change.
Here’s to leading better by establishing or maintaining an accountability relationship as a regular part of your life’s schedule–today or as soon as you can establish one!