How to Gain the Respect of a Team? (Leadership Rule)

Think back to your days at school, and try to remember the different types of teacher that you dealt with. Chances are, that you had teachers who were able to gain the respect of your classes and who was well-liked by everyone. When they asked the room to be quiet, it normally became quite quickly!

But then there were the teachers who had no grasp on the class whatsoever – who was teased and bullied by the class and who couldn’t control their behavior.

And so it is with managers, parents, and all kinds of leaders. So how do you go about gaining the respect of your team and avoiding becoming an ineffectual leader like the latter example?

Don’t Want It Too Badly

One of the worst things that any leader can do, is to appear desperate for their team to like and respect them. This is why the “buddy-buddy” approach never works. If all you do is to try and please your team if you try to make them laugh, and if you give in to all of their commands and requests, then you will eventually find that you completely lose the respect of your team and that they end up taking advantage of you.

Don’t try and be cool or be liked – just try and do the best for your team.

Control Your Emotion

Another easy way to lose the respect of your team is to lose your cool. The teachers that were most effective at controlling the class were not the ones who shouted the most but often the ones that we're able to remain calm and collected.

If you seemingly explode every time something goes wrong, then you are going to become a target for your team to try and goad. But if you can stay calm and in control, then you will earn their respect.

Do the Best for Them

Ultimately, the best manager or leader is the one who sacrifices themselves and puts their team first. That means taking flak from higher-ups when things go wrong, and it means trying to guide and nurture the team so they can do their best work.

If you do this, then your staff will pick up on that vibe. This will ensure that everything you do is seen through that lens, which will ensure that you gain their appreciation, and therefore, their respect.

How to Get the Most Out of Members of a Team

Being a leader is truly about taking a step back, and about allowing your team to really perform their best work. Rather than “taking the bull by the horns” and attempting to micromanage your staff to follow your every instruction, instead, you should be letting the individual creativity and talent of each person shine. That’s why they were hired in the first place, after all!

So how do you do this? How do you go about getting the most out of each individual team member? Here are some useful points to keep in mind.

Make Them Feel Safe

One of the most important roles of any leader is to make the team feel safe. In a workplace environment, this will often mean that you are taking on responsibility, such that they don’t take the blame when things turn sour.

If your team knows you will blame them for every mistake that they make, then they won’t be able to take creative risks. Likewise, if they are terrified of layoffs and higher management, then they’re not going to work well either!

Know Their Skills

Another important thing to consider is how each of your members operates as an individual and how best they can be integrated into a team. Different people have different skillsets and work better in different capacities – which means that different people will work better in certain groups and in certain positions within those groups. If you have someone who is a born leader then of course that person is an asset to any group – unless that group already has a born leader in place in which case you are going to cause friction. Think of how each new member will fit into the dynamic of each group and choose how you assemble the teams based on this. At the same time though, be sensitive to how your staff react to these decisions and be willing to move individuals to other groups and departments if necessary.

Likewise, this allows you to know who to assign to each task when they are required to work independently.

Give Them Ownership

One of THE most important tips for any leader is to give members of the team a sense of ownership over what they are doing. While it’s your job to take responsibility when things go wrong, you should also make sure that they have something to show for their hard work, and that they have control over. If it goes well… they get all the credit!

When someone isn’t working their best, it normally isn’t because they are “bad workers” but instead because they don’t feel intrinsically motivated by the work they’re doing. Give them a project that they have some creative control over, and that they can add to their CV… and all that often changes!