by Maria C Collins

Created on: October 02, 2010

Many people think that promotion means that they can please themselves rather than following workplace rules. Just as you cannot expect your children to eat their vegetables, if you hate anything green, you cannot expect workers to be good employees unless you are a good worker. Actions always count more than words in any situation in the workplace and, rest assured, those who work under you, will watch your actions carefully.

You cannot expect junior workers to do a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay unless you do the same. If you roll in at ten o’ clock and go home at three, you cannot expect junior employees to be in punctually at eight and to work until five.

A manager, who is rude and disrespectful to others, can expect that his workers will also be rude and disrespectful to him and to each other. He will also create a workplace atmosphere that is intimidating, and will sap workers’ confidence leading to low productivity. Whereas a manager, who treats everyone with respect and courtesy, and encourages his workers to do the same, fosters a pleasant collegiate atmosphere, in which people respect each other and themselves. This builds employees’ confidence in themselves and their abilities and so increases productivity.

Gossip is often rife in the workplace it is insidious, hurts others and is destructive. A manager should never engage in gossip in any way and he should do what he can to show others that gossip is harmful. Employees need to know that anything that they tell you remains confidential. You have privileged access to information about workers that their colleagues may not know and you should keep it to yourself.

Honesty is always the best policy, and a manager, who is dishonest in any way, whether it is by taking home office stationary, taking long lunches, fiddling your expenses or lying to workers, encourages a dishonest culture to arise amongst workers. You cannot expect workers to be honest when you are not. Dishonesty by anyone causes others to mistrust him or her, dishonesty by a manager creates an atmosphere of mistrust within the workforce.

If you are fair in your dealings with workers, they will be fair with you. If you are careless in your work, dress, or habits, workers will be careless in theirs. Why should they care about work, if you do not care about work?

By showing his juniors the correct way to behave, a manager shows true leadership qualities. He encourages, inspires and respects his workers, and they respect themselves and are confident in their abilities and capabilities. Such a manager earns his workers’ respect and loyalty, by his own actions, because of this, he gets the best from each worker and productivity in his department increases to optimum. Managers, who lead by example, are successful managers.

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