How to Get Respect from Your Employees as a New-Age Manager? In this article, we present 7 research-based methods that will tell you how to do it.
Wanting employees to respect you is something that leaders want, but to get to this point, one of the behaviors or attitudes that a good leader should have is: If you want others to respect and accept you, the starting point is that you must learn to respect and accept others first. Respect and acceptance are the foundation of every relationship, whether you are a boss, a co-worker, a lover, or even a family member.
In 2022, we found that out of 4,849 employees, 86% said they felt respected at work, and 4% felt they didn’t get enough respect or recognition. That may seem like a small number, but keep in mind that this is only a survey of thousands of employees. But if this is 4% of the global workforce, that’s not a small number. There are employees who are facing disrespect, discrimination, or feeling inferior, and it’s hard to get a lowly employee to perform at their best.
“Behaviors that show you are a leader who respects your subordinates.”
On the leader’s side, it is also a matter of trying to show respect and acceptance to employees consistently without bias. From the research, a coefficient of relationship between the leader’s behavior and the employee’s rating was created. Of course, the lower the score, the more it indicates that the behavior is not related to the leader’s respect for his employees. And conversely, if any behavior has a high score, it means that the behavior is highly related to showing respect to employees. This research itself found 7 behaviors of leaders that will lead to impressing subordinates by showing respect and acceptance to them.
1. Valuing Differences and Diversity: This is probably a point you’ve heard a lot about. Many leaders work hard to find talented employees, and of course, everyone comes from different backgrounds and experiences. The workplace is a place where people come together to achieve a common goal.
“Because I’m different, I can’t fit in with other people.”
These thoughts often arise out of nowhere, even if you don’t intend for them to happen. But as a leader, you need to make sure that everyone is open to hearing different perspectives and opinions without prejudice. You treat everyone equally, regardless of gender, age, appearance, or other differences. Research shows that many leaders underestimate the impact of this. They often overlook and forget that showing equality is a way of showing respect and acknowledging the diverse value of all employees.
2. Be sensitive to employee concerns and issues: While you may not be working to find a best friend, you should still maintain a rapport, familiarity, and camaraderie with your employees or team members to build some respect. Don’t distance yourself or position yourself as the boss just because your work role is higher than theirs. If you are the last person to know that an employee you work with is having problems, don’t assume that it is normal because you are the boss. Instead, consider why you found out so late.
“How is your family doing these days?”
To build strong relationships, you should make an effort to show that you’re there for one of your employees who needs to share a problem, concern, or feeling. Make it a goal for yourself to stay in touch with your team members as much as possible. Ask them regularly how their lives are going, whether they’re eating well, sleeping well, or how their family is doing. Don’t forget to emphasize that you’re there to support them when needed. This will bring you into a more personal conversation.
3. Gain Trust: Research has also found that if one employee starts to distrust you, the trust levels of the rest of the team will also decrease. This is called a contagious emotion. Trust can be increased through positive relationships, sharing of knowledge or expertise, and consistency. So when you treat people with respect, regardless of their background, language, culture, religion, or sexual orientation, you are improving your relationships, which will greatly increase the trust that others have in you.
4. Conflict Resolution: Even minor conflicts between a few team members can have a negative impact on the team’s productivity and quality of work. The conflicts are blacklisted as frustrations that immediately lead to disrespect.
“I’ll let them solve their own problems.”
Often, bosses or leaders choose to turn a blind eye to conflicts, feeling that conflicts between team members or employees are personal matters that they should not interfere with. But if you are a boss who thinks this way, you are wrong. Conflicts in a team are like small fires in a forest. If you can put them out early, you can easily grow louder. But if you see them but ignore them because you think they will go out on their own, in the blink of an eye, they will burn and cause a lot of damage. Leaders need to resolve conflicts quickly when they occur. Respectful leaders will not back down, but will be willing to participate in resolving conflicts.
5. Balancing “goal achievement” with “caring for others”: Every employee’s job is to help the company achieve its goals. When the results are prioritized over the employee, the employee or team member starts to feel disrespected, ignored, or neglected. In most situations, as a boss, you need to make some small exceptions. For example, a team member asks for a half-day off because their child is sick, they have an accident, or they may need to take a break to recover from physical or mental health problems. A good leader knows how to balance the results of achieving the goals with the team working together to achieve the goals.
6. Encourage the expression of opinions on issues and differences: This is actually very simple. Simply ask for opinions from other people on the team. This is a very effective way to communicate respectfully. But you can’t just ask. You need to listen attentively, show that you are involved, and be very willing to hear different perspectives from everyone on the team.
“I respect you very much, Kong, even though we have different views.”
Your employees or team members will feel that they are valued and that you are someone who sees them. You don’t have to adopt everyone’s suggestions or opinions in your team, but listen to what is useful and appropriate to improve. And if there is something that you think is not timely or cannot be adjusted according to those opinions, talk to them reasonably about your situation and theirs. But at least what you have done is listen to them attentively and listen with respect. This shows that you are open to different ideas and want to understand your employees more.
7. Give honest feedback in a helpful way: Honest feedback can make employees and team members feel more respected or accepted. As long as the feedback is conveyed in the right way, you want to make sure that the feedback you give is constructive, which will also reflect on your boss’s performance in managing the team. If the employee is 90% correct and 10% incorrect, honest feedback should be given. It should not be 90% critical of 10% of the mistakes and 10% praise for 90% of the good points. Just the feedback itself can show how much you respect the employee.
Conclusion
Respect may mean different things to different people, and how you show it is different for different people. But if you are an employee who wants to be respected by your employees, coworkers, team members, subordinates, or customers, you need to be observant, put yourself in their shoes, and get to know them better to learn what you should do if you want them to feel respected and accepted.
Showing respect to others regardless of their position, but seeing them as colleagues will help your work go smoothly. Even if you are someone who comes to work to make money, not friends, but if you have a good relationship with your teammates, it will help increase efficiency and quality of work. In addition, working where everyone respects and accepts, isn’t it the dream team of many people?
“Treating everyone with respect is the foundation of good leadership.”
Reference:
7 Ways to Make Employees Feel Respected, According to Research
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