Management: How to Gain Respect from Employees

For a manager respect is an essential leadership quality. This quality is built over time and there are step-by-step methods for gaining it. In fact, respect is a quality that is earned and not automatically gained when you assume a leadership role. However, there are some things you can do to help you gain the respect you need from your employees.

Having a positive attitude is one way to help you gain respect. Few people like people who have a negative attitude, much less a leader who has one. A leader with a negative attitude breeds fear within their employees. A leader with a negative attitude can get their employees to do things, but the employees do these things because they fear the manager, not because they have respect him or her.

Another way to gain the respect of your employees is to make yourself available to them. This is more than just maintaining an open-door policy. Every employee wants to know that they can come to their boss when they have issues that they need to present. Set time aside so your employees can talk with you. Also, asking the employee's opinion about tasks lets employees know that it's not only your way in the workplace. This will help you gain respect from those who work for you or under your supervision.

Whenever you see an employee who can use some help, offer to help them. This behavior helps facilitate more of a team like feeling for employees and when your employees feel that you are a team player, and not just a leader, they will tend to respect you more. Moreover, no employee likes to feel like that they are the only ones moving projects along.

Most employees don't like to be told how to do something unless they ask for that kind of advice. Being told how to do something can actually belittle employees and when an employee feels this from his supervisor it becomes very difficult for them to respect that supervisor. Instead, if you assign a task to an employee tell them what to do and let them come up with the way of how to do it.

Another important method to gain your employees respect is to actively listen to them. This means responding in a way that demonstrates your interest and enthusiasm about what they are saying. As the employee talks don't think about what you are going to say, but think about what they are saying to you. Employees often have good ideas and when you listen to those ideas it will help foster their respect for you.

Sharing credit and compliments can also help you gain the respect of your employees. No employee likes a manager or supervisor who takes all the credit for a job well done, especially when that employee has contributed their efforts and ideas. In fact, taking all the credit can be counterproductive to your leadership role. If you, as a leader, receive a compliment from your boss be sure to share that compliments with those you supervise.