How to Earn Respect

Whether you’re new to management, or have solid experience leading those in your charge, one of the keys to becoming a better manager is the cultivation of respect in the workplace.

How to Earn Respect - Laying the Groundwork

It’s important to establish an effective foundation for the respect that is your due as a manager, in order to avoid sending the wrong message to your personnel. If your behaviour implies that you don’t appreciate just how important their professional contributions are, your employees are unlikely to feel motivated enough to perform to the best of their abilities.

Employee respect that goes beyond simple lip-service has to be earned. While it’s only natural to expect a certain level of deference from your employees, it’s also important to recognize that true respect is a two-way street, and not something that’s simply payable on demand. If you want it, you’ll have to learn how to give it. And the best way to accomplish that is by cultivating an environment of positive employee engagement.

Engaging Your Employees

It’s been well-documented that we’re naturally inclined to do our best for others in situations where mutual respect is involved. In other words, we respond positively when we’re treated positively. Studies show that the average employee tends to feel more engaged, and gives their best professionally, when they’re feeling heard, acknowledged, and appreciated by management.

Simply put, genuine appreciation for your staff as both workers and individuals will go a long way toward establishing effective relations, increasing productivity, and inspiring a team mentality in the workplace. Remember that your employees are human beings first, and employees second. Once they recognize that your regard for what they do is sincere, they’re far more likely to afford you the same respect.

Effective Communication and Beyond

As their supervisor, your employees will typically be looking to you for:

• Clear direction and appropriate support
• Realistic expectations
• Fairness and consistency
• Regular appreciation for a job well done
• Two way communication

While there are a number of practical steps that new and seasoned managers alike can take to earn respect in the workplace, the most important of these is the establishment of two-way communication.

Regardless of the relationship, maintaining an open line of communication, involving active listening on both sides, is fundamental for promoting harmony. In the case of your employees, it’s also crucial for avoiding the misunderstandings that can fester and lead to disrespect.

Communicate regularly with your team, and encourage them to do the same; it’s vital that your personnel see themselves as part of a common mission.

Four Ways to Foster Employee Trust

1 – Encourage Autonomy                                                                                      Undermining the efforts of your employees through micromanagement is a recipe for destroying trust. Learn to delegate work; then let your employees run with it.

2 – Remain Accessible
Make it clear to your staff that your door is always open, whether they want to make suggestions, need help resolving a problem, or simply require clarification.

3 – Share the Glory
Give credit where it’s due. Don’t expect admiration from the same employees who watch you accept all the praise for their hard work.

4 – Show Gratitude
Make a point of telling your staff regularly what a great job they’re doing. Just be sure the feedback you provide is positive, constructive, and genuine.

The Unhappy Employee

When the practical elements we’ve discussed go missing from your managerial style, you run the risk of causing your staff to feel undervalued. And an employee in this state of mind is all too likely to nurse their frustration until it erupts into both full-blown resentment, and an accompanying lack of respect for authority.

Whether it’s related to your supervisory technique or not, disrespectful employee behaviour must be handled immediately and effectively or it won’t be long before a negative attitude is affecting everything from professional output, to team morale.

When dealing with a disgruntled and disrespectful subordinate, it’s important that you remain positive and professional at all times. Avoid singling the individual out by criticizing them in front of others, and instead try to resolve the situation through direct, honest, and private communication.

While doing your best to address your employee’s concerns, you should also make a point of documenting their inappropriate behaviour, and any relevant discussions or actions taken. In this way, you’ll be well prepared should your reconciliatory efforts prove fruitless, and it becomes necessary to take disciplinary action down the road.

A Final Word

In the end, the best route to earn respect as a manager that you deserve as a manager may lie in the quality of your own character: it’s crucial that you embody the same beliefs and behaviours that you’d like to see mirrored in your employees. The people who work for you want to know you’re not infallible, and that you’re just as human and prone to mistakes as they are. Once there’s sincere and mutual recognition of the efforts being made on both sides, the ultimate goal of mutual respect is sure to follow close behind.