How Leaders Earn Respect from their Teams in Four Ways
If you’re a manager, you may be wondering how to gain respect as a leader in your company. After all, it’s not easy to get people to follow you if they don’t respect you. Respect in leadership is conducive to a productive work environment as well.
There are a few ways in which you can earn the respect of your subordinates in the workplace. All you need to do is to follow them consistently enough to establish a healthy work culture.
1. They Take Accountability for Their Decisions
One of the strongest qualities a leader can have been accountability for decisions. It’s important to take risks in the course of any business. It doesn’t matter what industry you work in; you likely have to face risks every day.
Now, the thing about taking risks is that it doesn’t always pay off. In fact, in the long run it may be possible that most of your risks that you take don’t pay off the way you intended to. In such a scenario, it’s easy to put your hands up and blame someone else for the failure.
But this won’t win you any points from your employees. Subordinates that work with you will know which decisions were yours and which weren’t. So, it makes sense to own up to your failures and earn their respect.
After all, why would they respect a leader who won’t take accountability for their own decisions? But it’s not easy to handle the outcry that follows after a strategic business decision fails to pay off. Team leader training can teach you how to deal with the pitfalls of accountability. It can also help you lead from the front when things go wrong in your organisation.
Managers often have to take the fall when an organisation fails to meet its objectives. It’s hard to take accountability in such situations and make amends for the mistakes of others.
But a good leader isn’t afraid of facing the consequences when the odds aren’t in their favour. They put the needs of the organisation before their desire to save face in tough situations. To that end, they know how to assume responsibility when their organisation falters.
2. They Respect Their Employees
There’s no better way to earn the respect of your employees than by first showing them respect. Respected managers know that their subordinates work with them, not for them. These leaders believe in the skills and capabilities of their employees.
Team leaders don’t usually presume to know more than their subordinates. They simply know that they’re the best-suited to take the lead and get things done. So, a good manager isn’t necessarily the most knowledgeable or most skilled.
Those leaders that respect their employees are more likely to win their cooperation. In the long run, this will help them to meet the strategic objectives of their organisation. It also helps establish a better working relationship with their employees.
Be open with your employees about what you know and don’t know. It would make you appear more credible to them. You can then give them respect and ask them to help you out in areas that you don’t excel at.
This will allow them to trust you more as it’s likely they’re already aware that you don’t know everything. Admitting your shortcomings will help them respect your commitment to being open.
3. They Pay Attention to Details
Another way to earn respect as a leader is to pay attention to details. Anyone can execute a project if it’s done haphazardly. But a good leader knows that paying attention to details is the way to go in the long run.
Giving your whole and soul to a project will involve taking out the time to iron out every wrinkle. But this doesn’t mean that you should start micromanaging your team. This is likely to make them feel cramped and resentful.
They’re unlikely to respect a leader that doesn’t give them the space to use their own devices. So, you shouldn’t insist on your team members bringing every detail to your attention.
What’s important is connecting the bigger picture to everyday tasks. In other words, it’s about connecting strategic decisions to managerial one. Your employees should know how their work affects the objectives of your business.
They can do this if you let them in on how every detail of a project is important. They should be able to come to you with any concerns they have about their current projects. But these concerns should be relevant enough to be worth your time.
4. They Push Their Employees to Do Better
A mark of a leader is one who wishes their employees to do better every time they show up to the workplace. Often, managers feel threatened by skilled and talented employees. They often prefer it if their employees are incompetent. This allows them to keep their subordinates under their thumb.
But reputed managers focus on the betterment of their employees. They recognise that personal development will lead to increased efficiency in their organisation. Besides, it would help if you mentored your employees.
If you want to earn their respect, you could teach them what you know about your business. In this way, you could guide them to make better-informed decisions. These decisions are more than likely to impact the future of your organisation.
It would also help if you created opportunities for employees within the organisation. As a manager, you’re in a position to move employees to spaces where they can grow. In doing so, you’ll be ensuring your organisation is using human resources in the best possible way.
Your desire to see your staff grow should be greater than your desire to keep them close. The employees that continue to work with you will be sure to respect you for it.
Conclusion
Earning the respect of your employees is no mean feat if you don’t know where to begin. But, by following these tips, you can begin establishing your reputation. Remember, your reputation as a leader will stick up for you even when you’re not around.
It’s important to be consistent with whatever approach you follow in gaining respect. It won’t make sense for you to use one approach today only to flip tomorrow. Your employees won’t appreciate unstable leadership on top of the demand of their jobs.
If you truly want to earn respect as a leader, put the welfare of your employee’s above personal gain. You’ll be sure to reap the rewards of such a decision in the future.