Ongoing business success stories can only be achieved with certain cornerstones in place. One of these critical foundations is feeling and showing respect for your employees. If it’s genuine (and not just the politically correct thing to say), leaders and managers consistently demonstrate this in many ways including:
- RESPECT IS 24/7 ….. you appreciate, value and genuinely respect employees at all times — even the smallest showing of disrespect negatively affects everyone’s morale, productivity and work quality. And, removing the memory of manager’s disrespectful actions is difficult (and in some cases impossible) to achieve.
- ENTHUSIASM ….. your enthusiasm for your clients, customers, product, service, overall mission never falters and it is highly contagious….as is your lack of enthusiasm for the job to be done!
- SYNCHRONIZATION ….. your actions are in perfect sync with the professionalism, ethics, work habits and attitudes you expect from your employees (old Indian proverb….“Your actions speak so loudly, I cannot hear what you say.”);
- PROMISES ….. if you fail to fulfill a promise you made (any promise whether small,big, in-between), you acknowledge it and let employees know if and when you will do what you said you’d do or why you now cannot or will not do as promised;
- ENGAGEMENT ….. your engagement of employees does not stop upon their initial hiring date…you must make employees a part of finding solutions for problems, hurdles and the like ….. benefit from their perspectives, ideas, concerns by asking for their input and truly listening to what they have to say – – the ongoing, active engagement of your entire employee team is an essential cornerstone in the building of lasting success stories;
- CLARITY ….. you take the time to clearly communicate your requests and expectations of employees; and
- TIMELY INFORMATION ….. leadership and management beat the miscommunications and other hazards of the gossip grapevine by keeping employees timely informed re non-confidential changes made or in the works.
Remember – respect means the genuine, consistent showing of your best side 
…
NOT your “other” side!