One client told me they were just going to go into the kitchen and demand that certain things happen and figured they would respect him because he was going to be firm and put his foot down.

I asked him how he’d feel if I did that to him.

If he had handled things like that it was going to get a lot worse because if your staff doesn’t respect you now, they’ll respect you far less after a stunt like that.

TWO FACTORS IN RESPECT

1. Listen, if you want respect from your employees, then you have to find a way to improve their lives.  That’s your job.
2. Hang tight on this next one.  If you want respect, give unconditional love.  Let me give you a good example, especially if you have kids.  Your kid needs to brush their teeth before bed.  If they haven’t done it, you make sure it gets done.  At what point do you stop loving your child because they didn’t brush their teeth?  Never.

Reality is that you might remind your staff two or three times to do something and if they don’t remember, you end up cutting them off.  You don’t love them anymore and no longer put effort into them and say things like “they’re irresponsible” or, “I have to babysit them”.

Reality is that it’s your job to improve their lives and develop them into a better employee and put systems in place so they don’t forget to do what needs to be done.

If that seems like too much responsibility for you as a manager, it could be why you struggle with earning your staffs respect.