I do not like this person. I must get to know him better.
–Abraham Lincoln

The topic of respect recently came up when a group of my friends got into a discussion about their current organizations and how they felt about the way employees are treated.

What the discussion came down to was that they all felt that their organizations rarely acknowledged their efforts or input. As a human resources professional, I wanted to probe further, so I asked them where they felt their organizations fell down on the job.

What I heard were complaints about unrealistic expectations from management as it relates to performance measures and work/life balance, lack of verbal recognition from supervisors and not being treated as an adult. 

What bothers me most is that organizations don’t cause these issues, the people who run them do; some of the very people who at one time might have had the same complaints.

So how do you build respect in the workplace?

It means building a culture that embraces and recognizes individual differences in people, their skill sets and their contributions. The message needs to start at the top and filter down through the organization.

I remember one company I consulted with where the President routinely walked through the building, greeting people as he went, engaging them in conversation. Employees often reported that the first time he stopped their office door and joked with them, they were intimidated. But after that, they began to look forward to chatting with him and having the opportunity to ask questions about the company.

Then there was the recognition system that I learned about at another company called the ‘bravo board’: a very large erasable white board with different colored ink pens where co-workers would write kudos and thanks to each other for anything from providing help on a project to dealing with a difficult customer.
 
As a manager and member of the organization you have the responsibility to treat your team fairly and to ensure that they treat each other with respect. This means instilling the proper values through your actions and words. You know, walk the walk and talk the talk.

Don’t be the reason employees leave, be the reason they make your organization an employer of choice by treating each with the same respect you would ask for yourself.

Often times we forget that organizations are only as good as the people who run them. Poor employees are the result of poor leadership. If you want to have an organization that respects employees then you have to build a culture that embraces contribution and diversity.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 at 10:30 am and is filed under Company Culture, Leadership, Job Satisfaction. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.