Leading with Respect: The Right to Be Successful

In September 2021, I had the pleasure of presenting a webinar on a topic I am passionate about: Leading with Respect. If you missed this webinar, it is available in COE's Members Only Digital Content Archive. If you don't have an account, you can create an account.

The event drew over 350 attendees, the majority of whom stayed tuned in for the entire time and were highly engaged in the chat. The fact that so many people attended shows how important and pertinent this topic is today.

Considering the high levels of stress, fear, uncertainty, and change we all are going through, it is no surprise that the topic of how to effectively create a workplace of inclusion, engagement, accountability, teamwork, and amazing results is so popular.

Lead with Respect provides 7 core areas of behavior-based patterns that change how leaders, managers, and teams show up and interact. Leading with respect involves awareness of our focus and intention, and how well we are connecting with people to create an environment of mutual trust and sustained high levels of performance. This is accomplished through the application of 7 core practices:

1. Go and See for Yourself
2. Create a Meaningful Challenge
3. Listen to Understand
4. Teach and Coach
5. Support Others
6. Foster Teamwork
7. Learn as a Leader

After nine years of applying and refining these practices, I am still humbled and deeply moved when I see the impact they have on people, teams, and leaders to create mutual trust, psychological safety, and camaraderie. As human beings, we all want to be included and respected while at the same time know we are making a meaningful difference.

Lead with Respect is built on a foundation of key principles about what people need to flourish. One of the attendees asked, “Under the assumption ‘People have a right to be successful,’ how do you define successful?” This is an excellent question! As applied to these practices, success is defined by each individual person. Working with hundreds of people, I have noticed a pattern emerge: practically everyone shares the same human needs and sees success in similar ways:

• Contributing towards a meaningful purpose or challenge (purpose)
• Feeling comfortable sharing ideas, asking for help, and reporting problems (safety)
• Being part of a team that you care about (belonging)
• Helping others and being helped (teamwork)
• Taking control of how you “show up” (autonomy)
• Learning something new each day (development)
• Getting better at something with persistence and practice (mastery)
• Setting and achieving challenging goals (results)

Leading with Respect provides the framework, principles, and tools to build a working environment where people come together to create amazing results because they really care about each other, their customers, and their organization!

More information and to connect with Mike Orzen