:: Robin Sharma

Respect at workplace

Robin Sharma

June.5 : Eyes sometimes glaze over on the topic of respect in the workplace. The concept is so obvious that it seems not even worth discussing. We all know that if you treat your people well, they’ll treat your customers well. We all know that employees excel when they feel cared for, trusted and valued. We all get that everyone wants to work within an organisation where they can grow, have friends and be themselves. Or do we?

I just read about a study of 3,70,378 employees performed by Sirota Survey Intelligence on this seemingly obvious subject of respect at work. Guess what? Out of all those who polled, only 21 per cent of those in non-management posts felt the respect management gave them was at a "very good" level. Maybe the importance of respect within our organisations isn’t as ingrained as we all believe it to be. Splendid opportunity here. The study confirmed that people who felt most respected were also the ones who felt the most loyalty to the companies they worked for. And in a world where attracting — and keeping — superb talent is one of the most critical of all success factors, anything that breeds greater loyalty needs to be done.

So, respect rules. Treating people well rocks. Making your teammates feel special is job number one. Because they are special. Here are a few practical strategies to unleash respect at work:

Say "please" and "thank you".

Be on time

Reward people for excellent performance.

Become a brilliant listener

Coach the people you work with and help them realise their potential (we all want to get better).

Promote candour and truth-telling.

Give people permission to take sensible risks and the freedom to fail.

Encourage creativity and authenticity.

When people feel respected, they feel better about themselves. And people who feel good, do good.

— Excerpted from The Greatness Guide 2 by Robin Sharma. Published by Jaico Publishing House, jaicopub@vsnl.com