Dealing with the demands of a 9-5 job can be stressful, so you cannot afford to deal with co-workers who do not appreciate and respect you. Being respected and valued at work boosts your confidence, self-esteem and performance, so it is crucial to earn respect at work.
Here are 5 easy ways to make your co-workers, including your boss respect and appreciate you, regardless of your position at work.
1. Exhibit Leadership Skills
To be respected at work, you must exhibit positive leadership qualities.
Good leaders naturally earn the respect of the people around them. You may not necessarily be the person who leads the team, but you must make them see the leader in you.
How?
People who exhibit leadership qualities show efficiency, are ethical and respect the company’s policies. They genuinely care about the welfare of other people.
If you engage in sneaky and suspicious deals to satisfy your selfish interest, your co-workers will soon notice and will brand you as sneaky and untrustworthy.
As a result, they will definitely show you less respect or no respect at all.
However, if you are: always on time, transparent in your dealings, respect company rules, help people out when they really need to be supported, a team player, honest and a person of your word, your co-workers will respect you.
Let them see your integrity by being all these things consciously until the qualities, become part of you.
If you raise yourself up by being productive and having good work ethics, the people you work with will elevate you unconditionally.
2. Respect Everyone- From Top to Bottom
This is the Golden Rule for earning respect anywhere and at any time.
Respect begets respect, so if you want others to respect you, you must respect them as well.
After graduating from university, I took up an internship in a media establishment. While I was an intern, there was a lady who was rude to most interns and would say unpleasant words to us, because she was a senior staff member and we were not.
While she felt powerful by running some people down with her harsh words and yelling, it only made us respect her less. Most interns and some of her colleagues showed her less respect.
Why? Respect begets respect. If you want to be respected by your co-workers, show them respect.
In speech, deed and body language, let the people you work with know that you value and respect them. That way, they will respect you in return.
Show respect to whoever you are dealing with at work, whether your boss, the cleaner or the driver. Respect them because you get what you give.
When you have a conflict with a co-worker, listen to their side of the story, take a careful position on your working relationship with them and move forward in a decent and mature manner.
3. Stop Complaining and Propose Solutions
Problem solvers are forward thinking, and you can be that person. In the office setting, most people report problems and challenges without proposing new ways or solutions to deal with the problems they are reporting. Your boss and the people you work with will take you more seriously if you always think ahead.
Anticipate the problem, think about possible solutions and propose those solutions. Whether or not the job is your primary source of income, add value to the team. Be self- confident, take initiative and propose solutions.
Add value to yourself by being the go-to person for suggestions, opinions, solutions and inspiration. When you make yourself that person, respect will flow automatically.
4. Dress as you want to be addressed
Your appearance speaks volumes even before you have said a word. If your hair looks messy, your outfit over-sized or not ironed, your shoes dirty and your finger nails horrible all the time at work, nobody is going to really respect you even if you are the best worker of the year.
Do not wear clothes which are dirty, skimpy or are not ironed to work. Style your hair properly and give yourself a professional look depending on your company culture.
Body odour or bad breath can negatively affect your reputation, the respect you earn and most importantly, your confidence. Learn how to prevent bad breath here.
Dress appropriately in what suits your body type and size and be neat at all times.
You are a brand, you package yourself accordingly my friend, and get the respect you deserve.
5. Stay away from office gossip
When I was in Senior High School, whenever some specific people came to join an ongoing conversation, everyone would suddenly become quiet. That person who just joined was usually the gossip, and nobody wanted to say something which would be broadcast by a gossip to the whole school.
I’m sure you can identify one or two people in your life who fall in this category.
Hold on and think about this for a second! Just as you have identified them with the habit of gossiping, so will others put you in that position if you indulge in petty gossips anywhere, including the office.
You know that habit of speaking behind people’s back all the time? Please stay away from it. When you keep gossiping about people at their blind side, they will eventually find out someday and somehow, and when they do, you will lose their respect.
There may be some co-workers who are constantly trying to drag you into their gossip club. They always have something new (mostly bad) to say about someone and they need someone to say it to. Do NOT be the outlet for their gossip. Most importantly, do not be the gossip.
People will eventually find out if you are constantly bad-mouthing other people. The danger in gossiping is that, the people you gossip to/with will not respect and trust you, just as the people you gossip about will not respect and trust you.
If you lose trust, you lose respect, so avoid gossip
What Next?
Respect is very important to help keep your sanity as work as you juggle your responsibilities and all the things in-between.
To earn respect from co-workers, you need to exhibit leadership skills, respect others, present solutions rather than problems, be presentable and stay away from office gossip. You do not need any huge commitment to earn respect.
These are five simple and effective ways you can earn respect at work. Implement them consciously and consistently and you will see a difference.
Are you respected at work? How do you earn that respect?
