Accountability.
What does that word make you think of? Does it scare you? Make you want to work hard?
It can be really easy to lose track of the tasks you have to accomplish at work. Especially if you work for a small office where every member of the team is their very own department. And, if you’re anything like me, it can be all too easy to let the less fun things on your to-do list fall to the wayside, unnoticed.
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Which is why I’ve grown to love our approach to accountability here at the Scouted office. Each Monday, we write an email with a list of things we plan to get done this week or goals we hope to meet. Every Tuesday, we have an office-wide meeting where we go over how the previous week went with hitting those goals. Throughout the week, each of us has a “sync-up” meeting with the head of our team. Since I work remotely, I have a meeting with my team lead on Mondays as well as Fridays, one meeting to align on our goals for the week and another to see how we did. Then, the next Monday, we outline our next goals for the new week as well as where we’re at on the things we had hoped to accomplish the week before.
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That email usually looks something like this:
[Summary, 3-5 sentences] This week is a pretty typical week. I’ll be continuing my work on X project and picking up a new project where we hope to be implementing Y.
Last week:
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Write and send newsletter -done
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Write a blog post -done
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Collaborate with guest bloggers -in progress
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Post to Instagram -pushed (waiting on photos)
This week:
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Write a blog post
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Write weekly newsletter
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Create next month’s content calendar
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Collaborate with guest bloggers
Our summary and bulleted lists can contain as much clarification and description as we feel the team might need to understand our objectives for the week. While it might feel intimidating at first for your boss to see line items in the red, what makes a huge difference is our team’s value of transparency. Things come up and sometimes goals aren’t met, but if we’re transparent about it, we can keep everyone on the same page with where we’re at as well as hold ourselves accountable to our own work.
What do you think of the way the Scouted team stays accountable to each other? Could you see yourself implementing a system like this in your own workplace? Reply to this email and let us know what you think!
