Do not chase respect, walk with dignity and it will follow you
Rare life lessons by a Chinese monk
Respect, in simple understanding, is the act of holding another person in high regard and treating them with decency and consideration. Respect seems to be the cohesive element in caring and understanding for someone. One must recognise respect when it’s there as it comes in many guises such as
- respect of an individual, society, institution or government
- respect of the laws, family, school or work conditions
- respect at work of fellow employees, superiors, and subordinates
- respect of minorities, the weak, the disable
- respect for everyone and everything
- respect can build bridges not dreamed of before
- more importantly, respect for ourselves
Respect yourself and others will respect you (Confucious)
Respecting others and ourselves, and also seeking respect for ourselves is also important because it shows that a person has been acknowledged, valued, and accepted. Respect elevates our sense of significance. How we are perceived by others actually matters much more than we think.
Most often than not, showing respect for others always seems to go missing in action, often being overlooked because we’re always too busy to notice or hear clearly ‘good morning’ from colleagues. Most of the time too disengaged to really sense the intensity of the pain of a friend; or too tired to care that our snappy and dismissive response was hurtful and unwarranted.
Respect a man and he will do more (James Howell)
A culture of respect must be intentionally build by an organisation. This can attract, retain and leverage the contributions of all their talents, and create a climate of psychological safety at work. In many culture, respect is closely intertwined with the concept of leadership where mutual respect creates a strong bond between leaders and followers.
The few indicators of existence of respect are:
- Listening - when they’ve been heard and understood; be genuinely interested and open to others; actively listen to understand; you don’t need to agree or like their viewpoint.
- The absence of disrespect - eliminate rudeness, insulting others, and devaluing words or behaviour.
- Actions of respect - understand how identities affect the way they lead, how respect is given and received in cultures and groups. In short, just understanding and acknowledging.
5 reasons you need to lead with respect:
1. breeds trust
2. builds engagement
3. improves communication and results (respect each other)
4. promotes psychological safety
5. cultivates culture that leads to lower turnover rates
6. culture in workplace attracts top talent
7. diverse perspective strengthens innovation
8. provides the freedom to be you
To cultivate the respect culture, one must
- Exhibit interest, and appreciation for others’ perspectives, knowledge, skills and abilities.
- Express recognition and show sincere gratitude for efforts and contributions.
- Communicate information openly.
- Communicate maximum respect for people
- Active exchange of ideas and opinions.
- Clarify decision-making processes.
- Seek input into those processes, when appropriate.
- Understand allyship.
- Take concerns seriously.
- Show sincere empathy.
- Seek to better understand the said perspective.
- Pay attention to people.
- Try to relate to others.
- Open up to others.
- Avoid making assumptions and judgments
- Have dialogues.
- Regularly practice respect.
Respect is difficult to foster and maintain. It is the engine that supports human behaviour, without it civilisation would crumble. But respect has not always been well practiced.
Respect is also something that is being individually defined for each person through personal experience. Our personal definition of respect are influenced by our personality, emotions, preferences, and cultural context.
Reference
ccl.org (The Power of Respect, Kelly Hannum, PhD)
forbes.com
thinkers360.com
tandfonline.com
linkedin.com
c-q-l.org
