This One Habit Will Help Dads Sustain Change

If you’ve been working with dads for a while, you know they can backslide in sustaining positive change.

Why?

Like any positive change humans try sustaining, even the most determined dads can falter in trying to be better fathers. They’re only human, after all.

While you can’t help dads avoid all fathering’s pitfalls, you can reduce the number they’ll encounter. You can also help dads recover more quickly from pitfalls when they encounter them.

How?

With a tool you’re probably aware of but might not have thought to use in working with dads: accountability partners.

Accountability partners help each other maintain a commitment to positive behavior change. They keep each other on track and help course-correct when either one deviates from their behavior-change plan.

Within the context of behavior-change programs, accountability partners:

• Increase engagement with program elements.
• Improve adherence to behavior-change plans.
• Increase motivation to personal goals.

Where can dads find accountability partners?

If you run a fatherhood program, an ideal accountability partner is another dad in the program. That’s because of several factors that increase accountability partnerships’ effectiveness:

• Trust and Benevolence: Partners see each other as trustworthy and kind. As dads bond in a program, they feel more trust and care for one another.
• Reciprocity: The relationship benefits both partners. Dads realize that having someone in their corner—especially another dad who understands them—is a game-changer.
• Intrinsic Motivation: Each partner is motivated from within to become a better father.
• Regular Communication: Because dads see each other regularly, they have more opportunity to connect and monitor each other.

The benefits of this tool is why “Works with An Accountability Partner” is one of the habits in National Fatherhood Initiative®’s 24:7 Dad® Key Behaviors Workshop. This one-day workshop teaches 12 habits that help dads build and maintain the five traits of the 24:7 Dad.

But you don’t need a fatherhood program to help dads find an accountability partner. It can be anyone a dad trusts, believes has his best interests in mind, will support him with compassion, and is committed to regular communication.

Is there an opportunity to integrate accountability partnerships in your work with dads?

What about your own life? Could an accountability partner help you with a change you’re making?