Respect

							Small Things to Do to Gain Respect      by Cheri Swales Monster Leadership Advisor

Respect is not something handed to you when you take on a new leadership role. Respect is an
essential leadership quality that you must build over time. Unfortunately, there is no step-by-step
method for gaining respect in a leadership role. Several major areas require your attention, but
many leaders overlook small gestures that get big reactions from staff members.

Sweat the Small Stuff: You hear the phrase, “Don't sweat the small stuff,” in stress-control
seminars. But when it comes to respect, you absolutely must sweat the small stuff. Here are 10
small things you can do daily to gain the respect of staff members.

1       Maintain a Positive Attitude. People rarely respect negative leaders. Instead, they
typically ridicule them behind their backs. Negativity sends the message that you're bitter or
mean; it develops fear, not respect.

2       Be Available to Staff Members. Don't just have an open-door policy; make time to talk
with staff members and ask their opinions. They want to think they have your ear and can come
to you when they have issues.

3        Offer to Help a Staff Member. No matter how busy you are, when you walk through an
area and notice a staff member who needs assistance, offer some. Step in and get your hands
dirty. It won't go unnoticed.

4       Tell Staff What to Do, Not How to Do It. Effective delegation is an important part of
becoming a good leader. Understand that staff members are looking to develop their skills; so
when you delegate, give them an important task to accomplish. Then stand back and let them
figure out how to accomplish it. When you tell staff members how to do the task, they feel
mistrusted and perhaps worthless. It is difficult to trust a leader who can't let go.

5       Value Differences. Not all people are just like you. Show you value everyone's
differences by asking for input and encouraging everyone to work together as a team.

6       Listen Actively. When staff members talk with you, show interest and enthusiasm for
their thoughts. Lean forward, share acknowledgment and paraphrase back to them what you
heard them say. When you actively listen, you are not thinking about what you will say next. Be
with them in the moment.

7       Laugh and Have Some Fun Occasionally. Don't take everything so seriously that you
can't laugh on occasion. When pressure is high and the work needs to get done, a little levity can
make the work much more enjoyable. When you laugh, it also shows you are human, and that
goes a long way with staff members.

8      Share Compliments. Compliment staff members on a job well done. Make sure the
compliment is sincere and personal. It is always best to share a compliment when the act is fresh.
After or during a good presentation, giving an OK or thumbs-up sign will make some one’s day.
9      Know What You Want. It is difficult to respect someone who is not sure what he wants.
What is the goal you need to meet or beat? What is the schedule? What is the cost? The goal is
not nearly as important as knowing what the goal is.

10     Be Congruent at All Times. Are what you say and what you do the same? It's amazing in
corporate America how many leaders send mixed messages. For instance, consider the manager
who says he wants ideas from his staff and then proceeds to put down every idea brought to him.

Be flexible In a perfect world, everything goes as planned, exactly the way you want it. The
world is not perfect and things happen. Be tolerant. The more people involved the more likely
something will going wrong. REMEMBER, MANY inventions were created unintentionally.
Columbus did not set out to come to America but he did and now we have the USA.

Why Build Respect?
Without respect, it could be difficult for you to accomplish your job. Marilyn Johnson, owner of
a small computer company in Indianapolis, shares her quest for respect: “I was so enthusiastic
when I started my company that I tried to do everything for everyone. I spent all day telling my
employees how to do their jobs. After two years, my employees started leaving in droves. One
man told me he just didn't respect a leader who couldn't let go.”
                           The Lord is the Lover of your Soul

                       God Intimately Knows and Cares for you

If you have a hard time understanding just how much God loves and knows you, make
it a project to read and meditate on Psalm 139 regularly.

David discusses it clearly and beautifully!

Psalm 139
1
 O LORD , you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and
when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3
 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my
ways.
4
    Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD .
5
    You hem me in-behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6
    Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7
  Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up
to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [1] you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if
I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right
hand will hold me fast.
11
  If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
12
  even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for
darkness is as light to you.
13
 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14
 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are
wonderful, I know that full well.
15
  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When
I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed
body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them
came to be.
17
  How precious to [2] me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
23
     Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24
     See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.