Lead With Respect For Better Results

Let’s just be frank. Americans are unhappy at work! Recent surveys indicate that 70% of then American work force are disengaged. That means that out of 10 people around you at work, 7 are not happy being there. Keep looking around at your coworkers while we get you a few more facts to ponder about the American worker:

1. 46% of all new hires fail in the first 18 months. 80% of those failures are related directly to a poor culture.
2. It costs between 100% and 300% of a new hires annual salary to replace them when they quit.
3. 80% of this disengaged or unhappy are feeling that way because of their direct manager.

We hope that gave you a few things to reflect on while you take in the true impact on your organization of those numbers. The disturbing part is that this information is not new. It has been trending for years, and organizations continue to hide from the real issues or paste over them by throwing around money and promotions to appease the staff. Unfortunately, the failure of those efforts are starting to hit home with organizations and leaders. The overall point is that people don’t quit their jobs, they quit their managers. It’s time to embrace the facts and find a new approach.

The Lead with Respect model is a radically different approach that engages staff and shows them the way forward! The concept is made up of these elements: Go and See, Challenge, Listen, Teach, Support, Teamwork and Learn. We can learn these elements my keeping the following points in mind:

• Share – Honestly share the challenges facing the organization. Show what questions need to be answered.
• Listen – Listen hard and intently to the problems your staff faces. They are going to tell you what the challenges are, whether you like it or not. Be open.
• Teach – Be willing and open to teaching new skills that open up opportunity.
• Support Learning – Keep them engaged in “trying” and support their fear of the new and unknown.
• Teamwork – Keep the focus on the overall success and quickly break down departmental silos.
• Learn from Improvement Efforts – Instill and demonstrate the value of quality improvement efforts.

Practicing these Lead with Respect principles will create a more open and energetic work environment. Organizations with happy employees outperform their competition by 22%. Thats a significant advantage.

The mainstream approach to management is so deeply engrained that leaders tend to find it the most comfortable position to take. Get out of your comfort zone today. Understand that the true mission of a leader is to completely satisfy the customer, and to do that all your available resources must be onboard and working in complete harmony with each other. Finding that ideal sense of purpose is not impossible, but it all starts with you, the leader. You must embrace Lead with Respect.