Accountability is Huge

Some of the most important lessons on accountability can be observed at the gym. Let me tell you a funny story. (And yes, I got my wife’s permission to share this.)
My wife Carol recently started going to a new gym called Orange Theory fitness. (OTF) Now, OTF has mastered the art of creating a highly accountable environment. Here is a brief list of some of the main ways they do this:

• All members wear a heart monitor. There is a large screen that reports everyone’s heart rate. They then color code the heart rates so it’s quite obvious at a glance how hard everyone is working.
• It’s a group class, so you do experience a certain amount of peer pressure. If you are at all competitive, you don’t want to walk when someone else is running full speed right beside you.
• There’s a personal trainer that comes around and looks at your machines to see how fast you are going…and gives you some encouragement.

So with all of that, there’s not really an easy way to “hide” while you are working out. Well, Carol was feeling tired one day and decided to test the system. The trainer told everyone on the rowing machine to lay down next to the machine and do sit-ups. While he was paying attention to a different area of the studio, she decided to lay low for a minute and take a little break. She was between two rowing machines so she thought it was a pretty safe bet and she just wanted a little rest. The next you thing you know, she hears a tap on the window behind her. It was the desk attendant. It’s a glass studio and he was watching. He smiled and Carol resumed her sit-ups.

OTF is the fastest growing gym franchise in North America right now because they help people get tangible results. The results come to a large degree because of the accountability component.
Good people want accountability.

Want to improve your results? How can you increase accountability in your CPA firm?