The Buddy System
A Minerva Mentoring Initiative
In a grossly oversimplified version, success involves two things — figuring out what you want to do with your life, and actually following through and doing it. The first part is a lot about soul searching, finding purpose and learning more about yourself. If that's established, the second part becomes clearer. It's about motivation and accountability.
The Accountability Gap
The best thing you can do to help yourself with accountability is to hire a career coach or an executive coach. And if you can do that, that's great. If you cannot afford it, the next best thing is to find someone around you that can ask the right questions and keep you on track.
"The thing about coaching is that it's often more straight-forward than it looks. A coach doesn't always have to have the right answers or to even know more than you. A coach just needs to ask provocative questions, and listen. More often than not, you already have the answer in your head — you need to just let it come out and follow through."
What Is the Buddy System?
The Buddy System matches a pair of people based on their goals, values and personality traits for the purpose of holding each other accountable, listening to each other and brainstorming solutions.
Accountability
Hold each other to high standards
Active Listening
Create a safe space to think out loud
Brainstorming
Find solutions and next steps together
It's about holding each other to high standards and becoming the best version of yourself.
What Does This Mean in Practice?
The buddies meet (or at least exchange) regularly. In turn, each person talks about their professional life and the situations they are facing. Beyond this, in order to get the creative juices flowing, keep your eyes on the prize, and to prompt looking outside of your comfort zone, you state explicitly two things each session:
Your Current Goal
What you are working towards right now — find a job, get promoted, finish a project. Making it explicit keeps it clear and visible.
Your Next 3 Actions
The next 3 things you will do in the coming days to get closer to that goal. This steers you towards it and creates concrete commitment.