Imagine... You have created a new, innovative product that will impact millions of lives for the better. So you start a company in order to produce and sell this new product so that you can have that impact on people's lives. Now it is time for you to hire some employees to help you accomplish your mission. You are willing to offer a fair, competitive pay scale, and a solid benefits package. You need their help if you are going to accomplish what you are setting out to do, so you want to make sure that all of your employees are treated and compensated fairly.

Now imagine that you have a whole group of employees that do not believe in your product, and have no respect for the company that you have created. What do you think will happen? Are you going to gain the productivity that you need from these people in order to meet sales goals and projections? How do you manage the employee that thinks that the company's main purpose is to simply provide them with a paycheck? Not only will productivity not meet your expectations, but you will also NEVER realize the full potential that these people actually have to give.

Now think about the other side of this situation. What if your company were filled with people that not only believed in the product, but were also EXCITED about it? What if they looked at you and your company as a great opportunity for them, and the had a high level of respect for how you run things? The future success of this company would have a much brighter outlook, wouldn't it?

Before any other purpose, an employee must have a respect for the organization that created the position in the first place. I list this as the first of the purposes a company has for it's employees because it is the foundation that everything else rests on. In an informal poll one respondent (Sheilah E.) states that people should be, "able to show a certain level of dedication and loyalty to the workplace."

However, I do not share this point in order to support the mindset that we shouldn't hire people that have no respect for the company. I think that this is important when evaluating people for positions, BUT there is also some level of personal responsibility in this idea as well. Respect is not something that is automatic. You do not get respect simply by existing.



This is a funny thing though, because people should respect certain things automatically. The problem is that this does not always happen, and there are various reasons for this. Maybe someone was treated poorly in a similar environment, and you or your organization is the unfortunate victim of this loss of respect. Whatever the reason, your personal responsibility in this is that you should still work to be worthy of respect. If you want to be loved, then you must be lovable. If you want to be respected, then you must be respectable.

This idea of "Honoring the Company" means that you must take a close look at your character if you want to lead people within your organization. Words like integrity come to mind. Are you what you represent yourself to be? Do you follow-up on your promises to people? Leading people requires that you are above reproach, and that you are worthy of the respect of the people who follow you.