When you hire me as your financial planner, AND you choose the 12-month Find Your FI program to start, you are also hiring me to be your accountability partner. But, what’s that really mean? And why would you want an accountability partner? I think this is a term that deserves your attention, and a clear definition. It means different things to different people, and can vary across context, too.
In this article I will lay out my definition of accountability partner and how I implement it (and don’t implement it) during my 12-month financial planning process, as well as in any subsequent years we work together. I will also touch on why people seek out this type of accountability. After reading this, I encourage you to consider what “accountability partner” means to you and if it’s something you want. If it’s closely aligned to how I integrate it into my planning process, we may be a great fit. If it’s not aligned with my process, chances are good my planning process isn’t quite what you’re looking for right now.
When expectations in a planning relationship (or any relationship for that matter) aren’t clear, a natural consequence tends to be confusion, disappointment and ultimately decreased motivation to stick with the thing you originally wanted to focus on. In a team setting you’ll see the manifestation of unclear expectations as lower moral and lower performance and results. In a way you and I are a small team when we begin our work together! We have a shared mission (achieving your stated goals), roles to fulfill in pursuit of this mission (I’m focused on financial planning; you are the expert in your life and provide me with the necessary details to start constructing a plan) and a focus on collaboration to bring your vision to life.
The way I practice as an accountability partner is very straightforward – I hold you accountable to your stated goals. It sounds simple. Yet, it’s a journey and every journey comes with expected and unexpected challenges. If you’ve ever taken on any sort of challenge before, you’re familiar with this. Maybe it was a 5k or a marathon, improving your golf game or finding the right healthy eating plan … on paper it looks easy enough, but in practice isn’t it helpful to have some support and guidance to help you navigate the ups and downs?
I help create the processes and structures to focus on getting your to-do list done. I do this by holding space to deeply listen, offering thoughtful yet challenging reflections to help you clarify your vision, and creating structures and feedback mechanisms to let us know how we’re doing.
Here’s what it looks like …
Listen & reflect
I do this at almost every meeting. It’s especially important in our first few meetings as we orient towards your “why”
Clarify
A natural extension of listening and reflecting, clarity comes with thought provoking questions, knowing you’re seen and heard, and having the space to focus on what it is you really want.
Identify 3 focus areas for the year
When there’s greater clarity, we can chunk that vision down into 3-focus areas for this year. We can’t do everything in one year, but we can do a lot in the way of building up a solid foundation!
Develop action items around these focus areas and organize them into a realistic timeline
Realistic goals attached to timelines – in written format – are incredibly powerful!
Identify next smallest steps …
Every action item has a next smallest step. We focus on the small steps to keep moving forward.
Set up a structure to check in on progress
Are you still taking the next smallest steps? What’s the next one? What needs to stay the same or change in order to keep going?
Allow space to coach you on these three processes:
review where you are in making progress, or not; reflect on why that’s so; and prepare to shift as necessary and continue on the journey.
Now that I’ve outlined how I intend to function as your accountability partner, it’s equally important to understand what I do not mean by “accountability partner”. The most important thing to clarify is that, while I’m a trained marriage and family therapist, I am not functioning as your therapist. I do use therapeutic techniques frequently in my work with clients, but I do not offer the space, time or licensing requirements a therapist offers. If your sense is that you need ample space and time to process thoughts and feelings holding you back from achieving your goals, you will not be fulfilled with my coaching-centric financial planning. I designed the year-long program to offer just enough space and time to slow things down so that we could create a collaborative plan and check all the things off your list. Even with this slower pace (compared to most other financial planners) we will move at a deliberately steady yet thoughtful pace, in a forward direction, with an end-state in mind. You will find this more fulfilling if you’re at a certain level of readiness to face your finances and engage in this collaborative process.
You may notice I’ve excluded the one-time Ignite plan in this definition. With a short-term, limited engagement like a one-time plan, the process was not designed to include the role of an accountability partner. People who choose the one-time plan are usually looking for a 2nd set of eyes on a financial strategy they’ve set up for themselves and don’t desire the accountability piece.
Why would you want an accountability partner, as it’s described here?
If you’re feeling late to FI chances are good you feel like you have a lot to catch up on. That can be overwhelming – maybe it feels like your head is spinning (or it’s stuck in the sand!!). Having an accountability partner in your corner can help alleviate some of the pressure you might be feeling to figure it all out and do it all NOW. Or you may want to finally rid yourself of the pain of avoidance. You need a process and some structure to slow things down just enough, in the right ways, and to increase momentum just enough, in the right direction, in just the right areas. It’s a balancing out of energies, focus and resources. The accountability process helps with just that – you don’t have to do it alone.
