Page 104 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

75
The RESPECT Model: Building a Culture of Employee Engagement

rapport and build positive relations with employees. Critically,
supervisors must be viewed as advocates for their employees
as well as the organization. Whenever supervisors denigrate an
employee or the organization, they lose respect. I encourage you
to examine your own behaviors—as well as those of supervi-
sors whom you have respected—and look for opportunities to
improve your relations and reputation with your employees.

Respect for Team Members
Highly productive teams will always have one thing in common:
team members who respect one another. Productivity results
from team members working cohesively and synergistically with
one another. When employees respect their team members, they
often increase their own efforts as they seek to be respected
by their co-workers. Employees lose respect for team members
whom they perceive as unskilled, uncooperative, or underper-
forming. Loss of respect is accompanied by frustration and dis-
engagement. Often, supervisors contribute to this situation by
failing to hold underperforming team members accountable.
Team members lose respect for one another and the team
becomes dysfunctional and less productive when employees start
speaking about one another instead of to one another. When team
members respect one another, they resolve conflicts by speaking
directly to each other about their concerns. Organizations that
have established a policy that encourages employees not to speak
disparagingly of co-workers are dramatically more productive.
Increasing respect among team members (or any group of
people) is quite simple. Psychologically, the more that people
have in common, the more they like one another. When team
members have the opportunity to learn more about one another,
they often uncover areas of commonality such as where they
grew up, what their parents did, favorite hobbies, or having
children of the same age. It takes very little for people to feel