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People & teams

The five A's of change

Awareness, acceptance, action, accountability, acknowledgement — five steps, and most people stall at the second.

GCSEMindsets
Also called: awareness acceptance action accountability acknowledgement

A coaching framework used in accountancy advisory; no single originator.

In one paragraph

A ladder for getting a change to actually happen, from noticing the problem through to marking that it worked.

Awareness. *If I don't make changes, this business will be impacted and profit will drop.* Seeing that the status quo has a cost.

Acceptance. *I accept that for my business to grow I must have a one-to-one and empower my team.* Different from awareness — this is accepting it applies to you.

Action. *The actions I'll take to create a business plan so I can set goals around this required change, and keep on track this year.* Concrete and dated.

Accountability. *I need someone independent to hold me accountable to achieving the goals I set in my business plan.* The step that most people leave out, and the one that decides whether the previous three matter.

Acknowledgement. *I have some bad habits to break. I need to give myself and my team positive reinforcement when the changes are made.* Marking progress, so the change sticks.

Awareness to acceptance is the hardest gap. Everyone can see that businesses like theirs need to change; far fewer accept that theirs does.

How to actually use it

  • For a change that keeps not happening, work out which A you are stuck on. If it is accountability, the fix is naming a person and a date, not more willpower.
  • Accountability does not have to be a coach. A peer, a business partner or a monthly meeting with your accountant all work, provided they will actually ask.

Where it breaks down

  • Presented as a clean ladder; in practice people slide back down it, particularly under pressure.