Episode 102: Leading with Kindness and Accountability

Key Learnings

• “Tone-deaf compassion is more dangerous and costly than none at all.” Leaders have a big responsibility to figure out what matters to their employees.

• In this study, there were 1,959 managers with ratings from their direct reports. Of the 58 items measured by the 360-degree assessment, the kindness items had the lowest correlations to accountability.
• On average, managers who tend to be highly rated on accountability tend to be rated lower on kindness, and those leaders rated as the most kind tended to be rated lower on accountability.

• Leading with kindness has the power to transform your workplace. Receiving those off-hand compliments or displays of gratitude or recognition creates a culture of generosity in an organization.

• Quote from Mark Mortenson and Heidi Gardener: “Compassionate leadership isn’t simply about taking away work and giving people whatever they want. Nor does achieving high performance mean ignoring the needs and well-being of your employees. Leaders who strive for sustainably high performance — particularly in today’s environment — need to put in the time and the effort to ensure they’re enabling their employees to achieve it.”

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