Lifting Someone Above The Line

When people are stuck Below the Line^® that separates accountability from a lack of accountability, success from failure, their immediate challenge or obstacle is to See It^®, which is the first of four Steps To Accountability^®. To See It, a person must first recognize and admit that he or she is Below the Line—making excuses, blaming others, feeling powerless, and/or remaining hopelessly confused. However, when people are stuck Below the Line, they often don’t have the ability or willingness to See It. So, they may need an accountability coach to help them take all four steps—See It, Own It^®, Solve It^®, and Do It^®—Above the Line^®.

Consider the following example. The CEO and founder of a small business, we’ll call her Kathy, had an employee stuck Below the Line, we’ll refer to him as Todd. After attending an Oz Principle^® Accountability Training^® workshop, Kathy decided she needed to try reaching Todd one more time before letting him go. Over the course of a two-week period, Kathy had three coaching sessions with Todd. First, she helped him to identify the obstacles that were hindering his ability to achieve the desired and expected results (See It), then she helped him pick one of the obstacles that he believed he could influence (Own It), and finally she guided him through a “what else can I do” session before they jointly developed a plan of action (Solve It and Do It). Within a month, Todd was tackling more obstacles and getting better results than he had for years. Kathy’s recap of the experience was short and sweet, “Most people can be reached, if you have the right tools and an accountability mindset.”

If you really want to help people who are stuck Below the Line, you can never solve their problems for them. Think of yourself as a coach who is attempting to LIFT™ them Above the Line by helping them achieve the results they are, in fact, accountable to deliver. Once they move Above the Line relative to just one obstacle, they will begin to experience a greater sense of reality, empowerment, ownership, commitment, solutions to problems, and results. To learn more about how to LIFT someone Above the Line, go to https://www.partnersinleadership.com/.