The productivity of people working in a company relies highly on employees’ morale and satisfaction, which predominantly depend on compensation, respect, and excellent workplace relationships.
When workers have high morale, they work more productively and produce excellent output and, in the end, gives the company higher profit.
Respect in the workplace will increase team member engagement and allow an active exchange of revolutionary and even groundbreaking ideas.
The presence of respect in the workplace will increase team member relationships and camaraderie, lessen conflicts, heighten teamwork, and make your team attain your BHAG or big hairy audacious goals.
Respect must also be accorded to people you deal with in the workplace, including vendors, suppliers, clients, and other people your company works directly with. If respect is established internally, it will flow naturally to other channels.
As a company leader, you have to pay close attention to your employees if they exhibit and practice respect in the workplace. To help you out, here are some ways how to foster respect in the workplace:
1. Set Clear Expectations
As soon as a team member starts working for the company, setting expectations on the first day of work sets the tone and gives the team member a great first impression of work expectations, job responsibilities, and company culture. A clear outline of all these will provide a person with a comprehensible checklist that they could go back to when things become unclear.
2. Protect Concerned Individuals Privacy
In the healthcare setting, respect is paramount with recognizing patients’ privacy. The HIPAA or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act protects patients’ privacy by ensuring that concerned healthcare professionals practice the minimum necessary rule in sharing patients’ private health information in accomplishing essential tasks such as filling out insurance forms and medical data. Respect for patients’ rights is vital as this will also protect their privacy once they leave the four corners of the healthcare facility.
3. Embrace Diversity
Every individual has unique attributes, characters, and ideologies.
Being open-minded to all of these and encouraging others to do the same will ensure that you treat your team members with respect and dignity. Understanding your team at a deeper level by creating open communication with them and conversing with them privately from time to time will also give them the feeling that you value their thoughts and contributions. The same goes with respect to people of color who are somehow connected with your operations, like your contractors and suppliers.
4. Zero Tolerance For Harassment
Harassment, discrimination, and bullying should have no place anywhere, especially in the workplace. These acts affect an individual negatively, may result in mental health deterioration, and cultivate a culture of hate in the workplace. As a leader of the company, whenever you hear a murmur of harassment, you have to take it seriously. Approach the incident sympathetically and treat the privacy of the concerned individual confidentially. Giving importance to addressing harassment issues will make your employees feel valued and respected.
5. Recognize Accomplishments
Giving credit where credit is due respects each individual’s contributions to the company. Recognizing the vital work done by others and not stealing the limelight from them focuses on celebrating their victory and effort and valuing their input to the teams’ success.
Appreciating what others have done will make them work harder and is a key to increasing their self-esteem, so they’re bound to create more quality work for you.
Even just a simple pat on the back is already a big thing that would lift someone’s spirit.
6. Encourage Active Listening
Encouraging effective communication within your team wouldn’t be possible without active listening. Active listening is the process of being present and attentive in communication or exchanging ideas. It’s listening without interrupting. It understands that long pauses don’t mean you have to fill it in with your own words. Instead, they give the other person the chance to collect their thoughts to convey the message.
7. Walk The Talk
As a leader, making empty promises will result in a deterioration of the team dynamics. You cannot set expectations for others and fail to meet those expectations yourself. It’s hypocrisy and mediocrity altogether. Role model the best behaviors, and you’ll see others follow suit. Who else can they look up to for great examples but you as the leader? Role modeling is coaching and mentoring indirectly. You don’t actually even need to teach the behavior verbatim. The action itself will be the coaching opportunity.
Conclusion
To work for a company that values respect above everything else is a non–negotiable. It’s a deal breaker for a lot of people. Because not even the heftiest salary can equal to having your dignity disparaged.
