How a Success Partner Can Be Better Than an Accountability Partner
Why Knowing the Difference Will Help Increase Your Achievements
Having an accountability partner will help increase your achievements, however, having a success partner is a better option.
While they have similarities, having a success partner is usually a more productive and enjoyable experience.
1-Minute Summary Video
What is a Success Partner?
To understand the difference, it’s important to define both.
An accountability partner is someone you’ve agreed will keep you on track to reach a desired result. It can be a one-way or two-way agreement, which means someone may hold you accountable, but you may not do the same for them.
For most people, being accountable to someone isn’t something they feel excited about because it implies doing something they have to do rather than they want to do. It’s about sticking to the process to reach a goal. For example, “Did you exercise four times this past week as you said you would?”
Accountability has a negative connotation to it, which is a reason many people do not enjoy it.
It’s also valuable to know this isn’t always the case, as high performers or highly motivated people thrive when they’re accountable to someone.
A success partner wants you to achieve your desired results because when you succeed, they do too. This means you’re both in it together, working towards an agreed outcome that will benefit you both.
With a success partner, you can brainstorm, agree on strategies, tactics and action steps, and monitor progress and keep each other on track.
The difference is the energy of the relationship. It’s usually a partnership you want and not something you should have. When achieve success, you both benefit because you wanted the same outcome.
Why Having an Accountability Partner May Not Be Beneficial
Having an accountability partner may not be beneficial in situations where:
- One person does not have “skin in the game.”
- It is a one-way relationship.
- Desired outcomes are not aligned.
- Whether one person achieves what they want will not affect the other person.
- Each person is busy and considers their partnership as an obligation rather than something they’re excited about.
A success partnership often becomes someone you collaborate with to achieve bigger goals.
An example of a success partnership I had was publishing a leadership book with a few colleagues. Having published a few books on my own, a collaborative book was a different experience.
Most authors know promoting a book plays a huge part. Writing it is only one aspect. To market and sell books requires a coordinated approach, backed by smart strategies.
When our book, Ignite Your Leadership, was ready, the success of the book would benefit all the contributors. This meant we were each other’s success partners.
We leveraged our networks, social media following and resources to make the book a #1 international best-seller. It took work and effort to achieve that result, however, working together and being each other’s success partners made the process easier.
5 Ways a Success Partner is Better Than an Accountability Partner
There is nothing wrong with having an accountability partner, and it’s also beneficial to know the difference having a success partner can make.
Here are five ways a success partner can be better than an accountability partner and help you increase your achievements.
- They are invested in your success. This means if you don’t reach the success you want, it will affect both of you. This is different to a coaching or a mentoring relationship, where if the person being held accountable does not achieve what they want, it will not have a direct effect on the coach or mentor.
- They can bring ideas, insights, and resources to the partnership. As the saying goes, “Two minds are better than one.” Working with a success partnership will allow both of you to share resources, ideas, and also benefit from each other’s experiences.
- It can lead to new opportunities or higher levels of success. Having a success partner will boost your confidence to dream bigger. Often, a goal you want to achieve will grow and become a bigger and more exciting.
- It focuses more on progress rather than the process of achieving success. Instead of a “Did you do what you said you would?” relationship, a success partnership is about how much progress you made. Instead of focusing on the gap between where you are and where you want to go, the focus is on how far you have progressed from where you started.
- It will help speed up the success you want. When two people work towards the same outcome, you will give it more energy. What you give energy to will grow, which means faster progress.
How to Find a Success Partner
Choosing the right partner will affect the success you will have. When finding a success partner, things to consider include:
- Ensure what they want to achieve aligns with what you want.
- It’s someone you feel good about; someone you know, like, and trust.
- Have clear intentions and agreements on how the partnership will work.
- It’s someone who has a positive attitude and is open to feedback.
Final Thoughts
A success partner can help bring the best out of you and develop more of your potential. If success is a team sport, then having a success partner will make any win better and more enjoyable.
Having an accountability partner is great, but a success partner can help skyrocket your achievements.
Action Step: If you don’t have a success partner, consider the benefits having one will bring. If you want to find one, start with people you know, have met or worked with, and identify who would make an ideal success partner. Reach out to them and find out if they would like to be your success partner.
Question: What are other ways a success partner can be better than an accountability partner?
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