The EssentialSkillz Respect in the Workplace eLearning course describes what respect is and outlines typically respectful and disrespectful behaviours. However, people can interpret respect differently. You might mean one thing, but it comes across as disrespectful to another person. The course provides some tips to help you avoid misunderstandings and maintain respect despite different interpretations.
There are a variety of examples and scenarios to show you how you can demonstrate respect, for example by listening attentively, showing empathy, valuing people’s time and privacy, and helping people out. Respect can also be demonstrated nonverbally, for example by maintaining eye contact, arriving to a meeting on time and using open body language.
As more organisations move to remote working or have globally-dispersed teams, people need to know how to be respectful in the virtual workplace too, for example, via email, video call, phone call, or instant messaging.
Showing respect individually is part of the process but you can also do more to promote respect throughout the organisation by using inclusive language, celebrating colleagues’ successes and encouraging inclusive meetings and social events. The course gives examples on how you can achieve each of these things on both a small and large scale.
Maintaining respect isn’t always easy and everyone makes mistakes. We all have unconscious biases, prejudices and stereotypes that can affect how we perceive and treat others. The course covers how you can deal with conflict respectfully, tackle unconscious biases, and how you should react if you make a mistake. It also outlines what you can do if you feel disrespected yourself or see someone else being disrespected. With everyone’s commitment, we can create respectful and inclusive working environments where everyone feels valued, appreciated and heard.
Like all EssentialSkillz courses, this Respect in the Workplace eLearning course can be customised to meet your needs, enabling your workforce to understand specific content developed for your organisation. A designated course administrator can edit the text and images within the course, and link to organisation-specific documentation, all at no extra cost.
