Good Stuff

Respect

By John Brown

Are you a manager, school administrator, teacher, coach, church leader, or parent? If so, it turns out that you might have an ace in the hole. A huge opportunity to see better results than you’re seeing right now.

And it won’t cost you a dime. Truly.

Do you want those you manage to go above and beyond, show more creativity, and be more engaged?

If so, you’ll do this one thing.

Do you want to earn more revenue?

If so, you’ll do this one thing.

Do you want to decrease your employee turnover?

Again, you’ll do this one thing.

In fact, without this one thing, “even if people want to perform well, they can’t.” So what is it?

It’s respect. It’s showing those you manage more respect.

This is what Christine Porath of Georgetown University has discovered in her research of thousands of people over many years.  Respect.

What is respect? Porath defines it as “politeness and regard for others.” It’s about showing “every member of the group is inherently valuable”.

And it can have dramatic results. For example, in 2001, Campbell’s Soup had lost half market value, sales were declining, the business was collapsing, and there had been a series of layoffs. But then Doug Conant was hired as the new CEO. He turned things around in large part by showing employees respect. By 2010, employees were setting all-time performance records, including out-pacing the S&P by five-fold.

That’s just one of the many insights Porath shares in her short, but powerful TED talk on this subject titled “Why Being Nice to Your Coworkers is Good For Business.”

If you manage, coach, teach, or lead others in any way, take some time right now to watch it. It’s only 15 minutes long.  Now, you might be thinking this great advice doesn’t apply to you because you already do show respect. You’re a respect champ. However, there’s a good chance you might be in la la land. Says Porath:

“I’ve learned that the vast majority of disrespect stems from a lack of self-awareness. Only a masochistic 4% claim they are uncivil because it is fun and they can get away with it. More often people just do not realize how they affect others. They may have good intentions, but they fail to see how they are perceived.”

So it’s quite possible we think we do show respect, but the reality is we actually act a little like a jerk.

So how do you tell if you’re more on the jerk or helpful side?

Porath recommends a simple but effective approach in “The Leadership Behavior That’s Most Important to Employees” in the Harvard Business Review.

It seems the old adage that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar applies to more things than we realized.

After watching the talk and reading the article, if you want more information, check out “Do Your Employees Feel Respected” in the Harvard Business Review and then go on to Christine Porath’s website which has lots of helpful articles and videos.