Got Accountability?

From August 2015

The 'Secret Sauce' of Great BNI Chapters!

Accountability!  If you had a bad feeling just hearing that word, then read on -- you may change your mind!  Let's think about Great Teams....Football Teams! Medical Teams! Military Teams! Business Teams! What makes them successful? I believe it's being able to count on each other, in good times and in tough times. Until a Chapter gets this "A" word down, real chapter success will stay just out of their reach and/or will decline over time.http://www.bni.com/successnet2005/successnet05/May_Jun_2006/founder.shtml

First, let's look at the definition of accountability.  It is simply the act of being able to count on someone to do what they have agreed to do.  Our Code of Ethics:

1. I will provide the quality of services at the prices that I have quoted.
2. I will be truthful with the members and their referrals.
3. I will build goodwill and trust among members and their referrals.
4. I will take responsibility for following up on the referrals I receive.
5. I will live up to the ethical standards of my profession.
6. I will display a positive and supportive attitude with BNI members.

And why is accountability so important in a chapter?  Because it's actually fundamental to building the behaviors and skills that create success in BNI! In the management book Design, business guru Tom Peters writes about entrepreneur Charles Wang who says, "If a project team is behind schedule, what do you do - double assets (people)? No, no, no. You do the opposite. You identify the least productive 25% of the folks on that team... and eliminate them! Wang Rule: No job being done sloppily and slowly by 30 people can't be done better by the best 23 of those people." Read the entire article here - http://successnet.czcommunity.com/from-the-founder/addition-by-subtraction/478/

Of course the "ultimate" accountability in BNI chapters is being able to count on team members to pass referrals. But here is an interesting fact! Just like any skill set, that big "end result" of helping each other build your businesses comes from practicing a series of smaller accountability-based behaviors. It's adhering to and holding members to the very basics that make good chapters great.  http://successnet.czcommunity.com/from-the-founder/the-secret-to-success/25419/  

Accountability is a journey for every chapter, and helps each chapter reach their destination more quickly!   As chapters become more accountable by holding the members accountable, they truly become high-performing teams.  When all team members are accountable for their behaviors, the results are phenomenal.  Accountability creates a culture of success!

Here is one additional article which provides some statistics which relate to Chapter/Member Accountability.

 http://www.bnipodcast.com/2011/08/17/episode-218-what-is-a-quality-member/  

In closing I want to commend the Record Busters Chapter for being an Accountable Chapter. This Chapter is 40 strong. They built their Chapter from the beginning by holding members accountable. I recommend attending one of their meetings and see this Chapter in action. They follow the BNI basics and hold their members accountable. In four years they have grown to a 40 member chapter, passed over 3500 referrals which has resulted in almost $4 million in TYFCB.