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Encouragement and Feedback - Respect Your Team
More than a quarter of a century ago, a man named
Rheinhold Messner, largely unknown outside mountaineering circles,
achieved a unique feat, unparalleled in mountain-climbing history:
he climbed Mount Everest without oxygen! (He repeated the feat again, a couple
of years later, just to drive home the point).
The great mountaineer, rather than play up his incredible achievement,
(which Chris Bonnington, another legendary Everester, says is the most
impossible of impossible things Man has ever attempted and succeeded in doing),
always says he
did nothing, just walked a bit; the real work, he says, was done by the men
who got him to the point where he could start walking. Of such stuff are great
leaders and team players made.
The word ‘respect' has
Biblical connotations of servility and submissiveness in conducive to
self-development. Trust and respect go hand in hand, and to be received must be given, too. A boss who
doesn't delegate:
- Out
of lack of confidence in his subordinates' abilities,
- Who
hoards information which could benefit others,
- Who
interprets his men's' assertiveness as insubordination,
- Who
criticizes instead of giving constructive feedback
says it all about himself.
Poll yourself: do you
manage with respect?
- When
some one makes a mistake, do you steer him in the right direction?
- When
you want to see your staff, do you respect their time/ availability?
- Do
people disagree with you never/ occasionally? It's significant!
- Do
you treat female colleagues on par with their male counterparts, but
with a small slice of gallant consideration for them? No ‘little jokes',
innuendoes?
- If a
lady boss, are all men mere MCP's to you?
- Do
you manipulate
your staff, keep them guessing, or do you discuss with them your
working plans and give them a chance to make adjustments to their own
schedules?
- Are
you an Inquisitor as far as appraisal is concerned?
- Do
you keep an eye peeled for the little things that affect your men, i.e.
that leaking cistern?
- Do
you stand up for your men in discomfort or injustice?
- Do
you realize that not meaning disrespect is not enough?
QUESTION:
1.
Why is respect a two-way process in an office? Does
it automatically flow from authority?
2.
Why is it necessary at all?
Have you ever tried to ascertain how you rate in the ‘respect polls'?
What are its basic ingredients?
