Don't have the time to launch a full accountability group program? Use this guide to launch

Accountability Buddies.

It's pretty simple, have your community members pair up and self organize. Give them a little support in the process, and see how they pair up.

Guidelines

Give your community members a place and timeframe to organize.

• 🏠 Place: This can be a slack thread or slack channel, a forum post, a Whatsapp or Telegram group, or even a shared Google Doc. Give them a place to find out about each other, so they can feel comfortable self-organizing.
• ⏱️ Timeframe: Let them know how long they have to submit themselves to the program, organize into pairs, when they should kick-off their meetings, and how often they should meet.
• 💬 Organizing: Let them know (repeatedly) that they will be self-organizing. Often people are waiting to be matched. Also let them know what great accountability buddy behavior looks like. What responsibilities should be shared? How should they show up and support each other? What does bad behavior look like?

Templates

Use these quick templates to invite people into the accountability buddies program.

• Invite:

  • Hi all, Join us [🏠 Place] and find an accountability buddy! This is a program where you can let us all know a little bit more about yourself, including: [interest, vertical, location, timezone, goals, experience], and reach out to someone who looks like they'd be a good accountability partner. Keep in mind, it's up to you to find a partner and to organize meeting up.

    Share your details and find a partner by the end of the week! You should start your weekly meetings next week.

    If you do opt-in to this program, please put effort into finding a partner, and be dedicated to meeting weekly. We all know life happens, so if you have to miss a week, no problem. However, your accountability buddy will be expecting you to show up, and so will we!

    Have fun, and let us know if you have any questions!

• Reminder:

  • A reminder to make sure you share your details and find an accountability partner here [🏠 Place] by [⏱️ Timeframe]. If you have found a partner, make sure to set up a time and way to meet!

• Note to matched partners:

  • Hi! It looks like you found a partner to meet with every week. That's awesome. We're dropping by with a few suggestions, but you can run these meetings however you like. Please just be dedicated to showing up for your partner, and keep our community guidelines in mind.

    Other tips:

    When someone is sharing listen. We all want to be helpful, but sometimes listening, and letting someoen talk, is the best way to help someone unlock an insight.

    Be curious. Before replying, ask a few follow up questions to be sure you have lots of context and to help your group member feel heard and understood.

    Instead of giving advice, share a story. What have you worked through that is similar to this situation? What steps did you take to work through this?

    Have fun, and let us know if you have any questions!