Seven Ways Leaders Earn Their Teammates' Respect

http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2016/04/02/seven-ways-leaders-earn-their-teammates-respect/2/#55e6d04457f5
by Liz Ryan 

Here are seven things leaders do to earn the respect of their team members:

1. You will organize a regular staff meeting at which you’ll tell your teammates “At each of our staff meetings, I’ll share with you whatever news I have about the company’s progress and challenges. We’ll brainstorm about the most important topics for us to consider each week, from schedules to project statuses to vacation times or whatever we need to address. I want to hear from you about anything we need to pay attention to. I want to know how I can help you best.”
2. You’ll meet one-on-one with each of your employees to talk about his or her work specifically. This is not a meeting at which an employee has to justify his or her job’s existence, so make sure your employees know that. It’s a meeting at which you’ll listen to whatever your employees want to tell you, and you’ll ask them how you can help them accomplish their goals.
3. You will be careful not to criticize, second-guess or undermine your teammates, who know their jobs better than you do. You’ll take an advisory role. You’ll remember that people work best when they’re respected and given the latitude to do their jobs their own way. You may have a better idea, but your better idea can wait. You need your team’s respect more than you need to impress your boss with a quick fix that will make you look good.
4. You will treat your team members’ observations and suggestions with the utmost respect. That means that when someone tells you something in confidence, you’ll keep their confidence by keeping their feedback to yourself. You won’t talk about one teammate with another employee, no matter what.
5. You will tell the truth to your supervisor about changes that need to happen in your department or about processes or requirements that are not in line with reality. You won’t gain anyone’s trust by telling your teammates “I know our targets are crazy, but what can I do? We have to do our best!” That’s what a spineless supervisor would say. We all have to find our voices at work, and managers must do it on a daily basis!
6. You won’t use the power of your position to get things done, either with your own teammates or with other departments. If you have to throw around the authority of your job title to get things done, you have not developed the core of leadership strength that real leaders possess. You’ll develop that core that by stepping out of your comfort zone to tell the truth about sticky topics that need airtime. Little by little as you use your new muscles, they will grow.
7. You will lose the force field of fake power and control that many new managers cultivate — you’ll stay and open and human with your teammates, and get used to saying “I have no idea what to do about this situation — what do you guys think?” You won’t pretend that being the supervisor means you are smarter or better than anyone else. You’ll laugh at your mistakes and ask for help when you need it.

You’ll have more fun and be more successful Leading with a Human Voice than leading with the old-fashioned carrot and stick that have made so many working people miserable and made their supervisors objects of contempt and derision. You are better than that.

You don’t need to act like a boss. You will lead your new teammates through trust and all of you will grow your flames in the process.