THE KICK ASS

GUIDE TO
ACCOUNTABILITY
A ONE THING GUIDE

Accountability is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal when we’re trying to
do extraordinary things. When you’re leading a team of people—everyone with different
goals and responsibilities—it’s key that you keep everyone on the same page, moving
toward their personal goals, professional goals, and the goals of the business.
This is an area where most leaders really struggle. It’s hard to keep everyone focused
on the things that matter most and accountable to delivering results without coming across
like you’re micromanaging or intruding on people’s autonomy. In this guide, you’re going
to learn how some of the most successful leaders help their people to perform at their best,
every single day.

1
 The 4-1-1—the accountability tool we use internally
at Keller Williams and The ONE Thing—is a way for
both you and your people to map out your most import-
ant work for the coming year, month, and weeks. It’s
a single-page document that is based on the long-term
goals you’ve set, which you can work through weekly
with each of your direct reports, to review the previous
week and to map out the week ahead.
PREPARING FOR 4-1-1s
In order for 4-1-1s to be effective, you and your team
have to bring priority to your personal and professional
lives.
While it might seem irrelevant to ask your staff about
their personal goals, it’s actually quite important. Show-
ing interest in their lives outside of work and encourag-
ing them to participate in other things that they value
can significantly increase employee loyalty and engage-
ment around the work they do with you. Oftentimes
when someone leaves a good job, it’s not because of the
job ... it’s because of something happening in their per-
sonal life. If you know an employee is unfulfilled in an
area of their life, you may be able to guide them to find a
way to improve it before it has a negative impact on their
Click here to download the 4-1-1 template
work. And, as an added bonus, if you can show interest
as a manager and help your people succeed in their per-
sonal lives, they are likely to show you loyalty in return.
Here are the questions to ask your team before you
start doing your weekly 4-1-1s:
• What are your personal and business goals?
• What would you need to accomplish this month to
feel like you’re on track for the year?
• What do you need to accomplish each week such
that by doing it you could hit this month’s goals?
Once everyone has developed their answers, it’s time
to fill out your 4-1-1s!
Showing interest in their
lives outside of work
and encouraging them
to participate in other
things that they value
can significantly increase
employee loyalty and
engagement around the
work they do with you.
2
BREAKING DOWN THE 4-1-1
The 4-1-1 is a one-page document that breaks your goals out into three sections—annual, monthly, and weekly goals.
Begin with your personal and business goals for the year. Make sure to list them in order of priority! This sets the
tone for everything that follows, and
is the most important part of this
worksheet—it’s the North Star for MY ANNUAL GOALS
everything else you do. Expect to refer Personal Business
1. 1.
back to these frequently to stay on track
2. 2.
for success.
3. 3.
Once you’ve defined your personal
MY ANNUAL GOALS
and business goals for the year ahead,
MY MONTHLY GOALS
Personal Business
you can move onto the goals for the current month. Ask yourself the question, “Based 1.
on my annual goals, what’s the
1.
Personal Business
ONE Thing I can do this month such that by doing it everything else will be easier or 2.
unnecessary”—and your answers
2.
1. 1.
will fill out the monthly goals section. We refer to these items as your “Big Rocks,” because
3.
they are what will move you
3.
2. 2.
toward achieving your annual goals
3. 3.
most effectively. Remember, what you
include on your monthly 4-1-1 list is MY MONTHLY GOALS

not your whole to-do list—it’s your MY

MY WEEKLY
Personal GOALS
ANNUAL GOALS
Business
1. 1.
MUST-DO list. Just like your annual WEEK 1
Personal WEEK 2 WEEK 3
Business WEEK 4
2. 2.
goals, these should be listed in order 1.
Personal Personal 1.
Personal Personal
3. 3.
of priority. 2.
1. 1. 2.
1. 1.
2.
3. 2. 3.
2. 2.
This is where the magic happens. If
MY
3. WEEKLY GOALS 3. 3. 3.
you have clarity on your #1 goal for the month, you can determine what will need to be done to achieve it. You will be
Business Business Business Business
empowered to start saying “No” to everything elseMY that
WEEK MONTHLY
will
1 GOALS
distract you from
WEEK 2 your goals.
WEEK And, WEEK
3 when you 4 you can
do so,
1. 1. 1. 1.
focus on the few things that will truly have a real Personal
impact
Personal
2.
on your long-term
Personal
2.
goals. 2.
Business
Personal Personal
2.
1.
1. 1. 1.
1. 1.
Now that you’ve got your Big Rocks sorted for 3.
the month ahead,3.
2. 2.
it’s time to identify
3. what you will do
2.
3. for the
2.
2. 2.
week ahead to stay on track to accomplish your goals
3. for the month.3. Start every week3.3.by looking back 3.
at what you
3.
accomplished the week before and Business Business Business Business
looking ahead at what you still need 1. 1. 1. 1.
to do to reach your monthly goals. By MY WEEKLY GOALS
2. 2. 2. 2.
doing so, you’ll be able to pinpoint the WEEK 1
3. WEEK 2
3. WEEK 3
3. WEEK
3. 4
handful of tasks that would move you Personal Personal Personal Personal

closer to reaching those goals. 1. 1. 1. 1.

2. 2. 2. 2.
Depending on your workflow, when 3. 3. 3. 3.
you put together your weekly goals may
Business Business Business Business
differ. Some people may like ending 1. 1. 1. 1.
a work week by taking some time on 2. 2. 2. 2.
Friday afternoon to look ahead to the 3. 3. 3. 3.
following week. Others may prefer
winding down their Sunday evenings by
getting their head set for the week ahead. It’s just important to get the weekly portion of your 4-1-1 done before the new
week begins so that you can take advantage of as much of the new week as possible.

3
RUNNING 4-1-1 MEETINGS
Once everyone is clear on their goals, you can schedule 4-1-1 meetings to review them. These are generally one-on-
one meetings with your staff that take about 30 minutes per person. Try to do all your 4-1-1 meetings on Mondays, so
that everyone starts the week with a clear understanding of how
the past week unfolded, and what their priorities are for the week
Consider how much time and energy ahead.
these short meetings will save you by These meetings are about helping your staff to perform at their
keeping everyone on the same page, best, and to show them that you support them and want them to
doing their most important work and succeed. So protect this time. Don’t let other meetings or work
resolving any problems before they take precedence over a scheduled 4-1-1—your people are your
most valuable asset, so treat them as such.
become a lost cause.
Putting the 4-1-1 into play with your team can seem daunting
at first—it seems like a lot of information to get out of everyone,
and like it could take a lot of time. Consider though how much time and energy these short meetings will save you by
keeping everyone on the same page, doing their most important work and resolving any problems before they become a
lost cause.
To make things even easier, there are six questions you can use with each team member to make sure that the 4-1-1
meetings are productive and become a place where you can have open conversations about where the business—and each
person in it—is going.
Each week, meet with each person and have them
hand you their updated 4-1-1. Then work through the
following questions:
1. What were your goals last week?
2. How did you do? (cross off activities
accomplished, move others forward)
3. How do you feel about that?
4. Based on how you did, what is your new goal
and what do you need to do now?
5. Is there anything that might keep you from
meeting these new goals?
6. If necessary, let’s identify training solutions that
will support those job goals.
The 4-1-1 allows you to keep a pulse on how your team is doing, helping them to maintain clarity and focus about
their work while giving them the support they need to grow in every part of their life.
4-1-1 meetings make you accessible and help to build trust and rapport. They give you the opportunity to give
constructive feedback (good and bad), to learn about what motivates each team member, and to get to know them well
enough that you can bring out the best in them every day. But it goes both ways—they also give your team insight about
what you need and how they can do better in their work, provided that you are using the 4-1-1 system for your own
work and are willing to be transparent about your goals as well.
Using this system with your team allows you to build accountability into the fabric of your business and to empower
your team to achieve extraordinary things every day.