Building a Culture of Respect

Early in my career, I had difficulty controlling my response to negative stimuli when interacting with others. If one of my Soldiers broke the rules, I took it as a personal attack on my authority. This perception caused me to become emotionally responsible for a situation that was not entirely under my control. Instead of asking why the Soldier broke the rules, I focused on how it made me feel. As a result, I became angry and took actions that did nothing to correct the problem. I wanted to take the time to explore why this is a counterproductive style of leadership so others, especially new leaders, can progress faster and further than I did.

Leadership is a lifelong collection of skills, traits, intelligence, intuition, and most importantly, the drive and motivation to do what one believes is right. It is dynamic and requires passion and empathy to view situations from multiple points of view to make informed critical decisions. This article will investigate strategies leaders can employ to identify and correct organizational culture gaps and foster a climate of mutual respect.