Culture Guide - Respect
Respect is the amount of perceived worth given to each member of the team
Earning respect within a relationship holds the key to building on genuine trust. To be respectful toward someone in your community does not mean you developed a trusting relationship; it means you developed a professional one. Earning respect in a relationship on the merit of admiration and/or acknowledgement takes a self awareness on how you convey respect to others.
Being respectful includes being cognizant of each other’s time and personal space as it is in those small gestures within your community environment that leave the greatest impacts. It comes from an inner knowing on how to utilize the best practices of courtesy, compassion, recognition, encouragement and empathy to build on those gestures.
Although being respectful is classified within the same category as being polite, it takes on a stronger value when it comes to attaining the ability to get to know your community members. It signifies a positive feeling of feedback to enhance connection with others, and centers on showing regard for another person’s perspective and responsibilities especially in times of change.
Respect is how to treat everyone, not just those you want to impress.
– Richard Branson
Being compassionate builds on being courteous in that it not only centers in on the care and concern you choose to place on the well-being of others, it takes into account your non judgmental approach and your choice to speak and act out of kindness. To act with compassion when it comes to being respectful is to keep kindness in your words and behaviors always. Now this may mean still having those moments where you need to be direct with someone, or state your disagreement, but there is always a choice to do so with kindness. It is the new epiphany of professionalism in that it allows you to get your points across and still show you care.
Being courteous is the grounding foundation of being respectful within your community. It is the act of politeness in how you represent yourself in your own attitude and how you behave toward others. It’s all about placing value in getting a baseline each day on how your community is functioning overall and what your role within it is. Knowing who your community is and understanding its needs gives you the advantage to be present and aware when challenges surface. In other words, it puts you in a solid position to help others. From a human connection point, courtesy is doing what’s right by the people within your shared environment or your community. Courtesy represents your moral principles and value on where you stand and how you decide to treat others.
The true epiphany of being respectful within your community is having the ability to relate to another person’s state of being though sensing the height of their own emotions and gain an understanding of their perspective and attitude they are portraying; all the while remaining true to your own thoughts and actions. Being empathetic towards others is being able to respond with compassion and remain sensitive to the underlying fear or sense of inadequacy seen when individuals take risks or step outside of their comfort zone. It is that trait in respect that drives performance and innovation.
Encouragement comes from a place of genuinely wanting to see others shine and be a part of the growth. It is understanding that words of support accompanied by actions of support towards others builds the foundation for collective performance and a strong community culture. Motivating someone through showing respect for what they do will enhance their momentum for wanting to give more.
It is in that sense of appreciation where value comes in the form of feedback. Leaving someone with a positive emotion such as a sense of joy through providing encouraging words and supportive action will better prepare that person to be open to wanting to interact with you, and a willingness to perform what they are capable of.
You give recognition to someone by valuing them as a person who is worth the investment of your time and to allow them to gain a sense of belonging in knowing they are acknowledged and appreciated for who they are. In a sense when you give recognition to someone you are impacting their self esteem and in turn impacting the collective growth within your community.
Personal achievements outside of workplace responsibilities that can be brought to light to celebrate include anniversaries, doing charity work, public speaking, making healthy choices, and taking the next step in pursuing a dream; just to name a few. It’s all about complimenting an act of effort to make each day better and be of service to someone including themselves for the greater good.
Measure and know where to improve your team culture so that everyone enjoys showing up to work.
Try it FREE
