Throughout history, there have been leaders who were respected, and leaders who were ridiculed. If you want to be respected, it’s important to realize that you’re not above anyone regardless of your position, industry, or socioeconomic standard. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but regardless of your authority, you do not have the right to speak down to people or speak ill of their personal decisions.
When speaking to employees who love their manager, the common consensus is that the manager treats everyone with respect and doesn’t speak down to anyone. Remember the saying, “treat others the way you want to be treated”? This statement is drilled into children because of the truth behind it. If you don’t give others the respect that they deserve, you will not receive the respect you want.
If you act high and mighty, speaking down to people and disregarding their choices, you will be hurting your reputation, and will establish yourself as ill-mannered and undesirable to be around. This isn’t a good reputation for anyone to have, but for someone in a position of authority, this could hurt business, and create an unpleasant work environment where people aren’t happy and aren’t as productive.
If you are genuinely concerned about a decision someone has made, think about speaking to them as a peer who is concerned, not as someone with more power.
The wrong way to speak to someone looks something like this; “You’re wrong. I know what I’m talking about because of my position, and you’re making the wrong choice. It’s a stupid decision that you’re going to regret.”
The right way to speak to someone looks something like this: “I know you’ve put a lot of thought into your decision, but I wanted to give you some advice that I’ve learned from my experience with this. It might benefit you to think about x, y, and z when you’re making your decision.”
We’ve all been around someone who thinks they’re better than others, and it is not only unsettling, but it dictates your view of them. While someone may be able to earn respect back over time, once an impression is made, it’s hard to reverse.
If you want to be respected, it’s important to realize that you’re not above anyone, and that speaking down upon others will only hurt your reputation and ability to communicate. Once you’ve established yourself as someone who tears people down, people will stop listening to you, and your ability to communicate with others will diminish.
The best doctors, managers, mentors, politicians, and leaders have the respect of those they lead, and they gain that respect by listening and learning from those around them. No one has the right to speak to others as if they are lesser and their opinions don’t matter, and no one deserves to be spoken to with disrespect. We are all human, we all have capable minds, and we all deserve to be spoken to in a respectful manner. Treat others the way you want to be treated, and never forget that if you want to be respected, it’s important to realize that you’re not above anyone else.