Many leaders want to be respected by their employees but don’t know how to make it happen so they give up along the way. Think of a time when you worked for someone who you respected. What are the reasons you felt that way? People innately understand that respect is an important part of being an effective leader but don’t always do the things necessary to get to that point. So, ask yourself if you are truly a respected leader. A simple test is to ask your employees whether they respect you and for what reasons. If the prospect of doing that sends shivers down your spine then read on. We’ll take a practical look at what respect means and how you can get it. Respect is a word that gets thrown around a lot but that means different things to different people. One person thinks it means being valued while another believes it means demanding absolute deference. This leaves everyone guessing and going in different directions that may or may not lead to respectful in the workplace. So let’s try the following definition on for size: Respect: Being treated in a positive way that makes you feel valued and important. Let’s not get caught in whether this definition is exact enough or not, we could split hairs all day and probably still disagree. The important concept here is that people want to feel valued and important. Ask yourself if you’ve ever met someone who said, “I just want to be treated like I’m insignificant and a loser.” We’ve all seen the results of people being treated this way and they are generally not positive. Now we take our new definition and apply it to ourselves. There are certain characteristics of leaders who command genuine respect. We’re not talking about people who walk in a room and scare everyone into submission; that’s based on dominance and fear. Respect is about what people really think of us based on our actions, which is sometimes at odds with how we see ourselves from the inside. There are plenty of really bossy and insufferable people walking around thinking they are deeply admired and venerated when they are uniformly reviled. The general characteristics of a leader who is respected are: • People genuinely like and trust them. • They lead people by inspiring rather than through fear and intimidation. • They listen to others. • They model respectful behavior. • They value and are not threatened by the input of others. • They are flexible enough to modify their attitudes and approaches. • They are kind in general. We now have some basic traits of people who are respected for positive reasons. Let’s look at a couple ideas you can apply in your workplace. The first step in your quest to be respected is to take a careful look at yourself and evaluate your actions. Your behaviors will determine whether people genuinely respect you or are just afraid or staying out of your way. This requires that you be brutally honest about both your strengths and areas for improvement. Try to be as objective as possible. You may even want to ask the people around you and apply their advice to moving in a new direction. The second vital element is being empathic (or empathetic) toward others. We deserve respect when we have demonstrated that we can walk a mile in someone else’s shoes and truly understand where they are coming from. People admire us when it is clear that we are not only acting on our own behalf but in everyone’s interest. People naturally know the difference between someone who genuinely cares about them and someone who is just doing it to get something out of it. Being empathic means listening and valuing what other people say. It works best when we put our own insecurities and needs for control on the shelf and open ourselves up to outside ideas. Respect isn’t about demanding, it is about behaving in ways that get us more positive results. If you really want people to respect you take a good hard look at the areas you need to improve in your leadership approach and work on how you empathize with people. Once you do some basic fine-tuning of these areas you will enjoy a great deal of respect for all the right reasons.
Article Source: http://bizymoms.com/business
Guy Farmer helps talented and creative business people grow, succeed and think outside the box. Visit his coaching and training blog. Learn about his unconventional leadership training.