Coaching as accountability: A growing trend and its implications

Lately, I've been noticing a trend among my clients: some have been reluctant to end after our contracted six to 10 sessions. Some are experiencing ongoing, ever-changing situations that they would like support through (so that sort of makes sense), but some are looking to continue on an ongoing basis, purely to be kept accountable for their actions.

Specifically, they’ve asked me to serve as their accountability coach. I’m curious how many other coaches are experiencing this, but it’s certainly emerging in my own client base.

Why clients want coaches as accountability partners

If you look at best practice in behavioural change, then getting a buddy to keep you honest and on track has long been recognised as a way of increasing the success of goal achievement. In fact, partnering with a buddy can increase your chances of reaching your goal by 65%, according to the American Society of Training and Development – and with regular check-ins, the percentage rises even higher to 95%.  

So, does it make sense for clients to be using their coach to keep them accountable? 

The pros from the client perspective include:

• Your coach is a trusted confidante who has already established a psychologically safe environment.
• Your coach knows your background – all or most of it – not just what you are prepared to share with colleagues.
• Your coach is independent, with no political agenda.
• Your coach will be honest with you and will have different perspectives to share.
• Your coach understands the breadth of your goals, your plans, and your dreams for the long term, so understands the bigger picture.
• Your coach has the skills to unlock you if you get stuck, and to re-motivate you if you lose momentum.
• A good accountability coach knows all the tools and techniques to keep you committed and on track.

Note: The above assumes an external coach – with an internal coach, pure independence may be less achievable.  

Potential drawbacks for clients

The downside for the client (and upside for the coach) is the cost. But does the coachee consider the cost worth it for the end result? It is worth noting that not every session needs to be an hour – sometimes a 15-minute check-in is enough.

Considerations and challenges for coaches

So, what are the downsides for the coach of being an accountability partner?

1. What if the coachee does not stay accountable?

How do you navigate this? Ideally, open and transparent communication is preserved so clients always feel able to articulate that they are off track. Typically, you might revisit the agreement you established at contracting – does it need amending? A collaborative approach is recommended to revisit strategies being used to stay on track – is there another process that might be worth trialling? 

2. What about power dynamics?

By reminding the client of their actions, promises and obligations to self, are you changing the power balance in the relationship? It depends how you do this. If you are essentially “telling off” the client for going off track, then this is likely to change the dynamic. Keep in mind the transactional analysis principles of Parent, Adult, and Child. Maintaining that adult-to-adult communication.  

3. What about dependency?

With open-ended accountability contracts, then yes, dependency could become an issue, so consider contracting and re-contracting periodically to mitigate. The fact that a client requests an accountability coach in the first place suggests they are struggling to keep themselves on track, so they lack a level of self-accountability. Noting that a central thread of coaching is about empowering the client, think about how to equip your client to manage without you. This may be a gradual process, so think about how you might transition.

Essentially, it’s a personal choice for the coach and the client, but vital to be clear when contracting about the expectations each party has. Given the above, maybe it's worth, at the contracting phase, to consider the consequences if things don’t stay on track. How would both parties like this to be handled? 

If this is a trend in coaching, then it is worth spending some time thinking this through. It’s a good topic to take to supervision to discuss the ethics and figure out where you stand.