Treat Your Team with Respect

Does upper management treat employees with respect and dignity? Do co-workers do the same? And how about the employee-customer relationship?

When setting up a company, you must also set up the culture. And a piece of that culture is how you treat one another. Being respectful of one another is something we have been taught to do since birth, but that doesn’t mean we always do it.

When life gets overwhelming and work gets stressful, it can be hard to take into account other people’s feelings. Sometimes we will snap at those who don’t deserve it. It’s important that as an employer you always treat everyone in and out of your company with the same respect you expect from them. Keep in mind these things when working with the people around you…

• Take A Walk In Their Shoes. If you feel yourself becoming aggravated, take a few minutes and try on their shoes. What might they be going through that is making them act the way they do? This will help you to stay calm and collected, especially when you don’t agree or understand where they are coming from.

• Praise Don’t Criticize. People respond better to positive reinforcement, so whenever possible concentrate on what they are doing well. If it is necessary to discuss something unfavorable about an employee’s work, then do it in private. Criticizing and correcting someone in public can cause embarrassment and cause a blow to their self-esteem, which in turn might affect their efficiency at work.

• Include Others. When making a decision or developing a new idea, ask others what they think. This will let them know that what they have to say matters, but it will also help you because sometimes you miss things that others see clearly.

• Don’t Judge Others By What You Hear. Only pay attention to what you know is true and not what is speculated to be. Don’t jump to conclusions. Make sure you hear everyone out and keep an open mind because if you were in their shoes you would want the same respect or opportunity.

• Don’t Infringe on Others’ Privacy. Just because people work with you or for you doesn’t mean they want to share the details of their personal lives. As long as employees work hard and do what they are supposed to do, then there really isn’t any reason for you to meddle.

• Keep Calm. Don’t allow your stress or anger at something or someone else to come out in other places. Remember that just because something is happening in one part of your life doesn’t mean you need to take it out on in other parts. Learn to keep different sections of your life separate, so that when one thing suffers everything doesn’t suffer.

Treating others with the highest respect can be overlooked, especially when people are experiencing stress. Don’t allow it to be overlooked, because it can eventually take a toll on your company. What steps does your company take to encourage good employee relations?