Respect Flows from Our Humility

by Kerry Douglass

For a team or organization to succeed with longevity, it helps enormously if each member is respected, encouraged and helped. In fact, it’s almost always essential. And that means all team members, no matter their position or seniority. We want everyone working together, in unison, with a shared commitment to success.

Here’s an analogy – our own physical body. When we are healthy, we are able to work effectively, often with ease, and we have a fine chance of accomplishing our goals. When we experience an injury or illness of some sort, we quickly see the ramifications of what happens when one part of our body is not able to perform as desired. It could be an arm, hand, leg, knee or even a small part of our body. Football players go down with a turf toe. We can be shut down with a bad tooth ache.

When we sprain our ankle, the ankle becomes the weak link and impacts our entire body. The sprained ankle prevents the foot from being a stable base to stand on. Our stride is shortened and we can’t take on as much. We are simply limited in what we can do, no matter how hard we try to push through.

The same holds true within our businesses. Every person, every team, every department is significant. We want each person contributing to our success and helping overcome our challenges.

A distinguishing mark of a leader is one who is able to cultivate an environment of respect and collaboration among all team members.

Respect for others flows from our humility and the realization that, “What I bring is important – and what others can bring is equally significant for our success.”

And respect from others needs to be earned and cultivated by being a great teammate.

The work and contributions of each person need to be valued. No matter how talented an individual may be and no matter what their position or title, their success is generally directly dependent on the culture, ideally a winning culture, and functioning of the rest of the team and organization.

The mark of a leader is found in one who is able to inspire each team member, helping everyone to work together collaboratively, with pride in their work and their team, and with a strong desire to continue to improve each day.

About Kerry Douglass
Kerry Douglass is a clinical professional counselor. She earned her master’s degree in clinical psychology from Wheaton College, and she is an exceptionally supportive and compassionate spiritual director, having earned her certification from Franciscan University. In addition, Douglass is a musician, singer and composer of beautiful spiritual music.