What does an accountability coach do?
An accountability coach agrees a short list of priorities with you, writes each one down with a date, and opens every check-in by asking what happened to each of them. When something has slipped, the check-in finds out why and removes the blocker before the next date is set.
At Buzz Coaching it is the Accountability Coaching programme, part of personal business coaching. It suits an owner who already knows what the business needs and has trouble getting it done.
What happens in a check-in?
Last time’s commitments
Each one is read out from the written record. You say whether it is done, part done or not started.
What got in the way
For anything unfinished, the blocker gets a name: time, a decision you are avoiding, a person, or a missing number. Then it is removed or the commitment is changed.
The next commitments
Two to four actions, each with a date, written down and sent to you. They are where the next check-in starts.
What does it cost?
Accountability Coaching is £495 a month plus VAT, with weekly or fortnightly check-ins. There is no minimum term and no joining fee, and the engagement is reviewed at ninety days against where you started. It is the lowest-priced of the five business coaching programmes, and the discovery call that decides whether it fits is free and lasts thirty minutes.
When is a different programme the better fit?
The team keeps missing the dates
If your own commitments are done and the work stalls with the people you handed it to, the work is delegation and standards. That is Leadership Coaching, at £1,250 a month plus VAT.
You are unsure the priorities are right
If you finish the list and the business does not move, the list needs rebuilding from your figures. That is one-to-one Business Coaching, at £1,500 a month plus VAT.
The numbers are the thing you avoid
If the commitments that slip are the price rise, the debtor chase and the monthly figures, Financial Coaching with Peter works on those, at £950 a month plus VAT.
Frequently asked questions
How is accountability coaching different from business coaching?
Accountability Coaching holds you to decisions you have already made. Each check-in reviews your written commitments, deals with whatever blocked the unfinished ones and sets the next few with dates. One-to-one Business Coaching works on the decisions themselves: what to charge, which work to stop, what each job earns and where the business should go. It runs as a ninety-minute session every fortnight at £1,500 a month plus VAT. Accountability Coaching is £495 a month plus VAT, with shorter weekly or fortnightly check-ins. You can move from one to the other at the ninety-day review.
How often are the check-ins?
Weekly or fortnightly, agreed at the start. Weekly suits a stretch where several things have to land close together, such as a price change, a hire and a new supplier in the same quarter. Fortnightly suits a steadier list where each commitment takes a week or more to do. The rhythm can change at the ninety-day review if the work has changed. Whichever you choose, every check-in opens with the commitments from the last one and closes with the next set, each written down with a date.
What happens if I keep missing my commitments?
The check-in asks why, one commitment at a time. The answer is usually one of four things: there was no time in the diary for it, it depends on a decision you have not made, it depends on somebody else, or the number you needed was missing. Each has a different fix. The first is a diary change, the second becomes the commitment, the third is a conversation you plan together, and the fourth goes to the figures. If the same commitment slips three times, it is either changed or dropped, and the record shows which.
Who runs Accountability Coaching?
Andy Jackson, co-founder of Buzz, runs personal, leadership and business coaching, including Accountability Coaching, and takes the discovery calls himself. You know which coach you are working with before you pay anything, and that coach stays with you throughout. Buzz Coaching is a trading style of Buzz Accounting Ltd. What you say in a check-in stays confidential, including from the accounting side of the Buzz family unless you ask us to share it. You can read more about Andy and Peter Allen on the about page before you book a call.