HOW TO EARN RESPECT AS A LEADER (and signs your employees don't respect you)

Hey there, welcome to Mac TV. My name is Mac and I'm a leadership and team building coach, but specifically for first time team managers. So in today's video, I want to talk about just some of the signs that there are for like if your team doesn't respect you. And then, of course, I'm going to dive into specific action steps that you can take if that is the case. Like if you're watching the video and you're like, oh, yeah, my team does not respect me. I'm going to give you a couple of actionable steps that you can take to like turn the beat around on that, OK? So let's dive in. So the first sign that your team doesn't respect you is that they undermine you or they just don't do what you ask. So if your team is like constantly late on meeting department deadlines or they're just like constantly late, like they come in to work late and then they tell you what they will or will not will not do, then that's a huge sign that they don't respect you as a leader or that they're just not taking you seriously as a leader, because they believe for some reason that there are no consequences to their actions, so they just kind of like do whatever they want. The second sign that a team does not respect their manager is through their body language. You know, so much of our communication is nonverbal and it comes out even when we're not aware of it, like it speaks for us, you know, more so than our words sometimes. And so for your team, if you notice that, like, I don't know, they're not looking at you directly in the eye when you talk to them or their back is a lot, you know, turned to you all the time or when you're talking to them, their arms are crossed or like their eyes are like rolling out of their socket or something. That's a pretty good indicator that they that they don't respect you. So the third sign that your team does not respect you is that they just don't engage with you or they only engage with you when they absolutely have to. And so an example of this would be like you come in in the morning and they've got their backs to you right away, like they don't even want to, like, acknowledge that you're kind of in the room. I know of some team members that have told me that they would much rather just send their manager an email so that they don't actually have to talk to them, like it's easier for them to just keep like the communication with their manager as like super formal as possible through an email. Another sign that your team doesn't respect you is that they're like constantly calling in sick. So if you have team members that are like constantly missing work, that could be a sign that they just like don't necessarily want to be around you or don't respect you. And then finally, another sign of, you know, this lack of respect is I would say, like, if you're always the last to know, like if you're not well informed about what's going on, there's a reason for this. It's because they either don't want to talk to you or they just don't think like you need to know. So that would be like another sign. So if you're constantly saying, like, why am I always the last person to know or why didn't I know about this in the first place? You know, there's usually a reason behind that. And oftentimes it's because there's just a lack of respect. So what do you do? Right. Like if it turns out that you do have this team on your hands, it doesn't respect you. What do you do? And is it even possible for you to turn the ship around on this? I'm here to tell you that, yes, it is definitely possible for you to turn the ship around and to actually have your team members go from like disrespecting you and not respecting your leadership to absolutely respecting and trusting you. In fact, in my ultimate guide, this one here to being an effective team leader, I walk you through five strategies that like instantly builds your credibility and helps your team members to trust and respect you. So I definitely want to suggest that you download this. But for the sake of this video, I'm just going to talk about like a couple of things that you can do to, like I said, turn the ship around if it is the case that you have this team on your hands. It doesn't respect you, OK? So here's what you got to do. So the very first tip I want to share with you in terms of how to earn respect as a leader is that you have to lead by example. If you want your team to respect you and to respect your role, then you have to do the same, which means you got to take your job seriously as well. You can't really blame a group of people for not taking like you seriously or the job seriously if they see that you continue to wing it every single day, particularly as a new manager, right, because they're watching. They can see that you don't have confidence in what you're doing. They can see that you have hesitation. They can see the mistakes that you're making, and they can also see that it's not getting better, which is indication that you're not developing your skills, right? Like that's the message that you're sending them. So if you're sending them a message that you're not taking your role seriously, then why should they? So I'm going to continue to repeat this to you guys until it like really lands, because it is extremely important for you to get the training, develop your skills, get a coach, get a mentor, do what you need to so that you have the proper management and leadership skills required to lead this group of people. So my second tip in terms of how to earn respect as a leader is to admit and then take ownership of your mistakes, because nothing breeds disrespect like a leader that is quick to point blame when things go wrong, but will happily accept praise when things go right. You know what I mean? I have this free Facebook group group. It's a private Facebook group called the Awesome Sauce New Manager Crew. And in order to get into the group, you have to answer three qualifying questions so I can really determine whether or not you're serious about what we're going to be considering in the in the group. And one of the questions is like, what's your what's your greatest struggle that you're currently facing? And someone actually wrote that their greatest struggle was dealing with an incompetent team. I got to tell you, I was a little bit like taken back by that for a number of reasons, because that's just like a really poor attitude. But I I can almost guarantee that that team does like not respect that person because the truth of the matter is that everything rises and falls with the leader. And so if you have an incompetent team, it's most likely because you set the conditions for it. It's kind of like on you. And I know that's hard to swallow, because, you know, if you're a high performer yourself as a manager, that's going to be hard for you to hear. It was hard for me to hear, too, to think that if my team isn't performing well, that that's my fault. But the truth is, it is because if I haven't coached, if I haven't trained, if I haven't developed, if I haven't set up the processes and systems for them, if I haven't fired or had difficult conversations with people, then whatever I get is on me because I didn't do the work required to set up the conditions for good work. You know what I mean? So I guess there's two things here that I need you to know. Number one, your team is a direct reflection of you. So any results you're getting is really a direct reflection of what you're putting into it. But number two, consistently blaming your team for what's not going right is really a recipe for disaster and what breeds distrust. So just remember to turn that narrative around. And instead of like looking at the results you're getting and being like, what the heck is wrong with this team? Think about what action steps you can take, whether that be training, coaching or even firing someone that will turn the beat around on the results that you're currently getting. So my third tip in terms of how to earn respect as a leader is to take an interest in your people, because here's the truth. Managers that are only worried about the results and the metrics and the performance send a very clear message to their team members that all they care about is themselves. You know, so you got to have a really good balance of like managing the performance stuff and the tactical stuff, but also the people aspect of things, because you are dealing with people. You're not dealing with robots. And besides, if you only like over index on one side of the equation, then all they're going to do is protect themselves and care about themselves. It's going to become a very like everyone for themselves type of environment. And that's that's not conducive to good work. So you want to aim to be a relationship builder. Yes, it's important to have the performance stuff like nailed in. But what will help you have the performance stuff nailed in, as I've learned, is the relationship aspect of things. So make sure you have like a really good balance of that. And, you know, yes, if you're starting from a place where the respect level on the team is low, it's going to take a little bit of work, a little bit of consistent work on your end. But, you know, every micro effort that you put into developing relationships with your people, you'll see it grow exponentially. So just keep working at it and keep being consistent at it. The fourth tip in terms of how to earn respect as a leader is to aim to be fair and consistent. You know, nothing irks an employee more than a manager who's like always changing the goalpost or a manager that treats employees differently. You know what I mean? That's just a recipe for disaster. So make sure that in all that you do, whether that be your decisions or your feedback or whatever the case might be, that you're always aiming to be fair and to be consistent. Fifth tip in terms of how to earn respect as a leader is to set clear expectations. Now, yes, you're going to hear me repeat this over and over and over again. But that's only because so many managers fail to do this properly. And then they end up asking, like, why is it that nobody wants to do what I say? Or why is it that we're not meeting these performance targets? Well, it's because they haven't been able to set clear expectations. Listen, if you don't set proper and clear like deadlines and you can expect things to be like missed and for deadlines not to be met. And if you don't set clear expectations on what behavior should look like, then you can expect to have behaviors on the team that you do not want to have because no expectation has been set. So you have to make sure that in all that you do, that you do the work upfront in defining what the expectations are and then communicating it on a consistent basis. And what you do by like doing this, by setting clear expectations and then setting it and then sorry, communicating it regularly is that you're sending a message to the team, because again, remember, team members are constantly looking at what you're doing. And so when you have these expectations, what they see is a leader. They see someone that they can respect because this person has done the work of defining things and then are, you know, and then they're trying to implement it on a consistent basis. So just remember, setting clear expectations isn't just about getting the outcomes you want, but it's also about establishing yourself as a leader that people can respect within the team. So that's it, guys, in terms of just some of the signs that a team does not respect its leader and some actual advice that you can implement right away to just turn the ship around on that one, because we really do want your team to respect you as the leader you are. So I hope you found this video to be valuable and insightful. And if you did, don't forget to give it a thumbs up and to subscribe so you don't miss out on any other content that I share on this platform every single Tuesday. I hope you have a fantastic rest of the week as always. Don't forget to keep smiling and I'll see you in the next one.