Respecting your Direct Reports

One thing that everyone who leads people should consider is how to show respect to those who report to them. Here are some suggestions:

1. Answer e-mails from your staff in a timely manner. Don't sit on them. At least acknowledge that you have received the e-mail and commit to get back to the sender.
2. Acknowledge instant message sessions with your staff as soon as you can. Don't ignore the instant message. If you can't chat at that moment let them know you will 'ping' them when you are available.
3. Respond to voice mail messages from your staff as soon as you can. Preferably within the same day.
4. If your e-mail client allows it you should flag all e-mails from your staff so that they will stand out from all the other e-mails that you receive. Some ways to do this are:
• Set a specific color for all your staff's e-mails
• Move all e-mails that come in from your staff into a special folder (and then monitor that folder)
  

The bottom line is part of showing respect is to be available to your staff and to respond to their communications to you in a timely manner.