Catalyst Partner & Accountability Partner

Transformation and Accountability: The Two Faces of Harmonious Leadership              What if you had to consult a gardener and a cultivator?                                                                                                                       By: AbdelKrim Buri

The old gardener was working with palpable enthusiasm. He tilled the soil as if he were painting, delicately placing the seeds in key spots with millimetric precision, all the while explaining to the owner as he occasionally glanced up at the sky, searching for something distant, discussing the long-term prospects of the project undertaken in the small, beautiful garden. At least, that’s what I could understand as I watched the scene with intrigue, peering out of the window of my house during my reading break, holding my steaming hot cup of coffee, its vapors rising in sync with my reflections. Suddenly, my neurons made a curious yet interesting connection between gardening, cultivation, culture, accountability, and vision. I then remembered the last conversation I had, a few months ago, in the context of the international double certification as a consultant and Accountability Partner Leader from AIV, with Darren Finkelstein, an eminent and seasoned Australian consultant and International Accountability Partner, who worked for over 10 years at Apple under the inspiring leadership of Steve Jobs. I asked him about the importance of cultural transformation in implementing accountability processes in organizations. He emphasized the strategic importance of this question and that organizational culture indeed plays a central role in the implementation of the Accountability Partner process. He noted that it would be interesting to have a more in-depth conversation to discuss this important topic. Unfortunately, our schedules haven’t aligned yet, and I also need to perfect my English for more fluent communication with Darren! (Thanks to Alfredo Rivera for his great role as a translator).

 What new concept complements that of the Accountability Partner? We need professionals (Catalyst Partner) whose strategic mission is to prepare the ground, inspire, and instill a culture of change, rectify actions, and guide operational work towards the effective achievement of objectives based on external stimuli and the renewed data provided by the accountability partner. It is the strategic gardener's weather forecast and chemical dosage that guide the work of the Accountability Partner. Transitioning from the “Why to do” to the “What to do” is the core of a good harvest and the sustainability of productivity, the key stage of development for any organization focused on continuous improvement of results. Don’t we need two pillars of transformation? One who cultivates the “why” (a visionary) and another gardener of the “what” (an executor), consultants, partners working in harmony within our organizations—professionals who not only focus on what to do but also on the underlying purpose of doing, the “why.” In essence, “doing” is an action, a habit, and if we focus, as James Clear explains well in Atomic Habits, solely on the process while neglecting the why, we are likely to experience a complete failure in our operational support of the Accountability Partner. The overall framework of this article is based on the understanding and reflection on the dialectical interaction between the “why” processes with the Catalyst Partner and the “what” processes with the Accountability Partner in organizations, conceptualized as two closed circles that interact in a complete and dynamic manner, creating the X zone of productive stability.

The “What” Process:

• Actor: The Accountability Partner.
• Mission (Operational): To accompany, support, and help the accountability partner remain responsible for their goals and commitments through a structured process conceptualized in the form of a roadmap that serves as support and compass to guide and measure actions.
• Fundamentals: Darren Finkelstein defines three key pillars: Gaining clarity (knowing what to do first), Getting started (understanding what to do next), and Making things happen (focusing on actions that drive results)

                                                           The “Why” Process:

The Accountability Partner process and the image of the gardener have inspired me to conceptualize the reflection on the new concept of the Why:

• Actor: The Catalyst Partner.
• Mission (Strategic): To inspire, motivate, and lay the foundations for driving cultural, mental, and emotional change, while also providing feedback to the work of the Accountability Partner leader in order to rectify actions taken or committed to, ensuring growing and sustainable efficiency and productivity.
• Fundamentals: Drawing inspiration from the principles that Darren Finkelstein outlines for the Accountability Partner, I believe that the Catalyst Partner has, by analogy, three key fundamentals: Gaining clarity (knowing the why to act first), Starting (understanding the why to act next), and comprehending the why of the things that happen (focusing on understanding the actions that drive results). The alignment of these fundamentals is essential.

                                                                   The X Zone of Interaction:

The X Zone of interaction is the space of productive stability, the homeostatic balance where strategy and action merge in a symbiotic relationship to optimize the productivity metabolism. In other words, it is the equivalent of symbiosis in living organisms, between the nervous system and the muscular system.

Finally, we all need "cultivators" (Catalyst Partner) who plant, motivate, inspire, set medium- and long-term strategies, and guide us toward beautiful dreams in our minds, which can become real goals or tasks with just a 10% probability of achievement in this initial state of germination, but they prepare the ground for the second operational stage and accompany us through an interesting new dynamic of internal and external change throughout the process. We also need "gardeners" (Accountability Partner) who take care of the flowers that subsequently bloom in our hearts, and that need ongoing support to fully blossom. In fact, the likelihood of achievement increases to 95% in harmony with the germination process established by the "cultivator." We all need a zone to counteract our famous white zone of comfort, which is the X Zone, the ideal space for balance and the sustainability of our productivity