Podcast: Respect for People: The Third Leadership Characteristic for Driving Sustainable Change

Your company has a continuous improvement department, but what about a “respect for people” department?

“We really never have respect for people departments, even though respect for people is the input that gets you continuous improvement,” says Dr. Mohamed Saleh, co-host with John Dyer of Behind the Curtain: Adventures in Continuous Improvement.

In this podcast episode, Saleh and Dyer continue their conversation about 10 key leadership characteristics for team-based continuous improvement environments such as lean. The focus here: leadership characteristic No. 3—respect for people.

The two continuous improvement experts discuss the meaning of respect for people, with Saleh sharing a conversation he had with a former Toyota employee that helped him identify three aspects of respect for people. The aspects he outlined include leaders who: 1.) demonstrate ideal behaviors such as listening, empathy and volunteering discretionary effort; 2.) create win-win scenarios, meaning the boss has his employees’ backs, and there’s no hidden agenda or manipulation; and 3.) invest in stretching and  growing their employees, which could make an employee anxious in the moment but grows their abilities over time.

Additionally, Saleh and Dyer address salary as a motivator, the downside of multitasking and the need to revisit the criteria used to promote leaders.