Shawnee Love   •  
December 11, 2014

If Gift #1 is Communication,

Gift #2 must certainly be Respect.

Respect is the foundation for any relationship.  Just as with a shoddy house foundation, the absence of respect in a relationship leads to endless problems.

So how do you give respect….

Respect is in the thousands of ways you interact in any given day, it’s in what you say and most importantly in what you do.  You can show you respect your employees by:

• Listening to and incorporating their ideas (or taking the time to explain why you didn’t),
• Speaking courteously and professionally,
• Arriving on time for meetings with them,
• Asking about their lives and caring about the answers,
• Giving your undivided attention when you are together (put down your phone and turn off your tablet),
• Believing in their capabilities by delegating challenging work,
• Treating them as the capable, intelligent, caring individuals they are,
• Recognizing each person’s strengths and showing appreciation for those strengths,
• Trusting them with important and confidential information and plans,
• Disagreeing healthily, i.e., being polite, staying open minded and focused on the disagreement without letting ego, agendas and biases get in the way,
• Being authentic,
• Giving the benefit of the doubt, and
• Following through on your promises.

Certainly this is not a complete list, it just represents some of our favourites.  How do you show respect to your staff?