What Is Mutual Respect And Mutual Responsibility?

In a world where performance and individual results matter, the idea of mutual respect and mutual responsibility often gets thrown to the curb. When this happens, leaders and employees will become myopically on their own needs and success rather than on those of the team. As a result decisions may often be made that serve the few rather than the team, department, or organization as a whole. This poses a significant threat to the leader’s ability to creating an environment that engenders trust. Therefore, a leader must be “well grounded in the principles and practices necessary to create safe space for the soul” (Palmer, 2004, p.75). This cannot be a mere onetime event however, as organizational culture is difficult to establish, but may

(2007) describes the essence of leadership as “the process for achieving worthwhile results while acting with respect, care, and fairness for the well-being of all involved (p.xx). The culture that is created within an organization may promote or inhibit mutual respect (Josephson, 2010). The leader sets the tone and direction for what will be accepted, as followers observe the manner in which their leader carries him or herself. An employee may make several observations about their leader that informs them about the level of acceptance the organization may have toward bad behavior. Does the leader make excuses for showing disrespect toward others? Does the leader conduct themselves with honesty and integrity only when situations are not difficult? Does the leader care only about themselves and their own success? Does a leader make excuses for these activities? When a leader engages in these types of behaviors,

Organizations typically see individuals in one of two ways. First, a leader may see himself “and others more or less as we are – as people” (Arbinger, 2010, p.35). Alternatively, I may choose to see individuals as tools, obstacles, or irrelevancies in which they become mere objects to the leader (Ferrell, 2011). Often leader’s believe that they are good actors and can hind the way that they perceive those within whom they work. However, the longer one lives and or works with a group of people, the more clarity they have regarding how it is that we see them. Do they and their hopes and suggestions have value just like I have, or do individuals merely exist for my using them as needed (Arbinger, 2010). In order to create a conducive climate that promotes mutual success and understanding, the leader must demonstrate personal credibility (as discussed earlier), while also building trust with the people who are on their team (Franklin Covey, 2008b) by acknowledging and honoring them as people who deserve dignity respect and care. With this new paradigm of “seeing others” in place, relationships become engaged and the mutual benefit of the team is ensured. From these relationships, one is able to improve communication, and engender “organizational trust”, and “builds a credible team or organization” (FranklinCovey, 2008,