Respect and Reap

Respect and Reap

By Philip B. Crosby

Management worries about getting the most positive results from their employees, suppliers, and for that matter, customers. They use motivation techniques, worry about productivity, conduct surveys, use all kinds of actions that are supposed to produce a reliable and useful organization. But most of it is of little avail. The organizations that seem to work well do it as a matter of chance, relying on random events, rather than on purpose. They go up and down in every area of results.

The successful organizations perform at the top of the range because their management has learned to do a few things properly. They follow our management concepts for creating the reliable organization: policy; education; requirements; and insistence. These work every time, provided the management shows respect for those they lead and influence. They don’t always know what that means. Respect is the foundation of every successful relationship.

What is involved? What does it take to have a culture of respect in an organization? Here are some clues.

R	Remember that everyone has feelings, even those at the bottom of the organization chain.
E	Expect outstanding performance and let each individual know that you think they have it in them.
S	Start every day with friendly greetings.
P	Plan each process so that it will succeed.
E	Educate everyone continually, including executives.
C	Correct errors and problems without blame.
T	Truthfulness is what people use to calculate respect.

How does your organization measure up to this list? How do you measure up? Your career goes or doesn’t go based on the way you treat people. They respond in kind.

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