R-E-S-P-E-C-T: The Key to Creating a Successful Workforce
written by agammy
According to a recent study by Achieve Global, respect is the most important thing a company can offer its employees. I guess I’m not surprised by this (after all, who doesn’t want to be respected) but I was surprised to learn that in almost every age group, respect was the HIGHEST priority among those surveyed - it even outranked financial stability and opportunity for growth.
Basically, the point of the study was to see how much of our workforce perceptions are based on our age - and as it turned out, after analyzing the perceptions of 500 employees from different generations researchers found no significant differences in how employees wanted to be treated in the workplace- more importantly, being respected was the highest priority in all but one of the age groups.
How can you help an organization or team develop a culture of respect? One important step you can take is to help management and employees alike embrace uniqueness and appreciate individuality. I think this is best done by encouraging discussions of differences and alternative points of view. The Myers-Briggs assessment is a great aid in this endeavor, and each year it helps over 2 million people discover their own preferences and unique strengths, and is the starting point for constructive conversations and team growth. It’s 100% true that the more you get to know someone and understand the nuances of their personality, the more you begin to understand them and in turn, respect them, and that’s what using the Myers-Briggs can do for teams. Management benefits from training in the assessment as well because they learn to take a report’s feelings, needs, thoughts, ideas, wishes and preferences into consideration when assigning responsibilities and approaching conflict situations (and they learn that not everyone has the same needs!)
Ultimately, respect is about appreciating and nurturing the sense of the worth or excellence of a person, and understanding that each person in the world has a valuable role to fulfill, whether you agree with their way of doing it or not. Next time you’re meeting with a client, show them the results of the Achieve Global study and see if they are ready to develop and foster respect in their workforce.
Reader2
March 25th, 2009 at 8:06 am
This was a very timely article. I’m in the process of developing a team building leadership development training for a team of IT “folks.” Two things that this article hit on that I found most useful. Addressing the issues of respect using the MBTI. The training focuses will focus on “Respecting Differdnces.” The second thing is that we will be addressing generational differences. Wouldn’t you know it, I’ve recommended using the MBTI as a great tool to look at this topic. So thanks for this article, I shall share it with my client.