Page 96 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

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The RESPECT Model: Building a Culture of Employee Engagement

My education, research, and experience have led me to con-
clude that powerful leaders who create highly engaged employees
do so by fostering a culture of respect in their organizations. It
is through this lens that I created, and now share with you, the
RESPECT Model.

The RESPECT Model

The RESPECT Model is an actionable philosophy based on the
simple principle that when people are treated with respect they
engage and work harder to achieve the goals of the organiza-
tion. Over the past few years, a handful of researchers from
around the world have empirically supported this premise, most
notably Ed Sleebos, Naomi Ellemers, and Dick de Gilder from
the Netherlands. These researchers have demonstrated in both
laboratory and field studies that when people feel respected,
they exhibit greater discretionary effort in order to benefit the
group and organization. In addition, their research uncovered
that when disrespected individuals exhibit discretionary effort,
they do so to achieve personal gain—not to advance the goals
of their group. These findings validate the basic premise of the
RESPECT Model and highlight the distinction between engaged
employees who work for the betterment of the organization and
motivated employees who work for themselves.

What is an actionable philosophy? An actionable philosophy is a
set of values or beliefs intended to guide one’s daily actions and
behaviors, for example, the Golden Rule, which teaches people to
treat one another as they would want to be treated.