I would like to start off by talking about a story I read once about Nelson Mandela.
Mandela invited a dignitary to his home for a meal one evening. He was standing at his front door when the dignitary arrived, got out of the back seat of his vehicle, and joined Mandela in his home. The two gentlemen sat down at the table to enjoy dinner when Mandela addressed the dignitary: “Wasn’t there someone else who came with you?”
“No” replied the dignitary, “I came alone”.
“But I thought someone else was in the car with you”, which his guest replied “oh no, that’s just the driver”.
Mr. Mandela excused himself from the dinner table, went outside and invited the driver to come in and join them for dinner.
What a classic example of respecting others. When we want to be respected, we have to have respect for others. When people respect you as a person, they admire you. When people respect you as a friend, they love you. And when people respect you as a leader, they follow you.
There are several aspects to the hierarchy of EMS organizations that I tend to question. First would be the perpetuation among the masses that with position comes respect. When someone is promoted to a leadership position, or someone is brought into a leadership position from outside the organization, they tend to take on what I refer to as “positional leadership”. They are the people who command respect because of their position and leverage that position to get things done. Also, they market their education and experience as reasoning to their madness. I refer to them as the pig tail alphabet soup leaders (John Doe, MS, MPH, PhD, NREMT-P).
This is dangerous not only for themselves, but for the people who are below that individual. It creates vitriol and animosity among followers. We’ve all seen it and with this type of leadership, it’s natural for those of us on the lower rungs of the ladder to resist that person.
There are several levels of leadership that one must go through to earn respect. It’s not automatic and must be earned. In the early stages of your leadership role, people follow you because they have to. You’re the supervisor, manager, or director. But with position comes responsibility. You’re not only responsible to your people, but more importantly to yourself. An indispensable quality of a leader is the ability to evaluate themselves before trying to influence others.
If you’re a leader, whether formal or informal, you gain respect by exercising positive influence on your followers. Always remember that people work with you, not for you. Your people are your greatest asset, so treat them as such. Walk slowly through the crowd and get to know your people because you can’t influence people that you do not know. Add value to those that you serve and in turn, respect will come.
“Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less”. – John Maxwell
Until next time, stay safe.
CT
When I entered medicine, at about 18 years old, I suddenly found myself in a world where Doctors, those paragons of virtue, knowledge and discernment, showed themselves to be as slimey, incompetent, deceptive, (of course) arrogant, and dangerous as any schmuck off the street, probably well within the norms for the general population. They had positive aspects in proportion as well, but I have to say, it takes quite a bit of ambition to become a Doc and for many, that brings with it exagerrated twists and turns!
But that was just a lesson about trust as well as respect and things you can and things you can’t; different with each individual. These are things that must be earned no matter the title or badge. But if you’re gonna expect that, you need to be worthy of respect and trust as well. Until you have strong evidence to the contrary, it’s important to keep your disrespect in check. I can offer respect without respecting, just not for very long!
Too many times there are people who think respect comes from position alone, which couldn’t be further from the truth.