In recent years, the lines between our personal and professional worlds have blurred. This poses a true challenge for leaders when external issues bleed over into day-to-day work responsibilities. If your direct report misses a deadline because their child is sick or they’re dealing with a difficult family situation, it can be tough to find the right balance between understanding and holding them accountable.
In our recent webinar, David Rowan, Ph.D. and Marianne Whelchel, M.S. get to the heart of this very issue. Our solution is compassionate accountability.
What is Compassionate Accountability?
A leader who demonstrates compassionate accountability does several things:
- They listen to understand (and they use a variety of probes to aid in their understanding)
- They create a positive team climate, which fosters trust and enables greater engagement and team performance
- They stick to Q4 behaviors. While Q3 may appear at first glance to be the quadrant best suited for people-centric issues, a Q3 response is often more sympathetic (“that’s too bad”) as opposed to compassionate (“how can I help?”). Compassion takes courage, and courage is a Q4 behavior.
It should come as no surprise that we believe compassionate leaders are Q4 leaders, and vice versa. Q4 behavior also enables the leader to take the necessary step from understanding to action.
Watch Our Full Webinar on Compassionate Accountability Below
We hope you’ve enjoyed our webinar on compassionate accountability and find the information beneficial. As a thank you for joining us today, we’ve provided a few key takeaways below. In addition to Marianne’s sage advice, you can download the Q4 Process for Compassionate Accountability tool below.


If you enjoyed this webinar, make sure to check out our webinar archives for previous sessions on Emotional Intelligence, Retention Conversations, and setting and maintaining Work-Home Boundaries.
You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Q4 Connection, and be the first to know about our upcoming webinars and events.