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Azimuth Check
Building a Culture of Dignity and Respect
It Begins with You!
By Lieutenant Colonel Jessica M. Farrell and Sergeant Major Peta-Gail Drummond
Dignity and respect are key elements of a healthy, productive organization that senior leaders must prioritize in an organization as we communicate vision and purpose.1 However, high optempo, stress, circumstances, and emotions can sometimes complicate relationships. This article offers some points to consider and use to increase dignity and respect in the installation-level workplace and beyond.
Dignity and Respect
Dignity and respect are essential to human interaction, relationships, and organizational trust. Dignity is the inherent value each person brings to the team.2 Each member of a team has unique value regardless of position, aptitude, or performance. Respect is the recognition of the value of each person and demonstrating “due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights or traditions of others.”3 Put another way, dignity is each person’s worth, while respect is regard for each person’s value.4
Fostering a culture of dignity and respect is crucial to the success of any organization, especially one in which each member is essential to mission success. You need individuals who, in all that they do and on a daily basis, embody these principles. Regardless of stress or adversity, teammates who truly respect others do not act based on assumptions, egos, or agendas. A culture of dignity and respect is born out of a bond enforced through civility by all members, not dictated by supervisors or leaders. Every individual interaction and choice by each member, from the newest Army recruit to the most senior general officer, forges this bond through peer mentorship and leadership. The following are some points to consider in creating a culture of dignity and respect.
Know Your Teammates
To create a culture of dignity and respect, get to know people. Remembering the names of Family members, pets, or favorite sports teams is a start, but knowing and valuing your teammates means learning about their feelings, wishes, and traditions to promote their dignity and extend respect. If teammates do not authentically care for one another and go deeper than a superficial understanding of one another, a culture of dignity and respect is difficult to build. This is not to suggest teammates trample appropriate personal boundaries; it is a reminder to go beyond surface knowledge.
Dignity and respect are essential to human interaction, relationships, and organizational trust.
Intent and Grace: What We Owe Each Other
To recognize and affirm the value in people, it is critical to avoid presuming ill intent. Beginning any interaction with the idea that the other party is biased or seeking a negative outcome or agenda is fraught with peril. Such an approach undermines the dignity of each party and is inherently disrespectful. To foster a culture of dignity and respect, each member of the team must be open to others. Allowing personal feelings or fears to dictate interaction with others degrades our own dignity and that of others. If one party is too focused on his or her own feelings, wishes, or traditions, it becomes impossible to properly process the needs and desires of others.
Mistakes and interpersonal conflict are a part of the human condition. Many leaders have said, “If you have people, you have problems.” Indeed, to err is human.5 A culture of dignity and respect is one in which there is accountability and grace. Everyone makes mistakes and forgiveness, or at least some modicum of grace in the face of failure, is required. In this way, acting with dignity and respect is no easy task. It requires some emotional grit to step back from what feels like a personal attack or avoidable carelessness and forgive the other party. However, affirming each individual’s value despite mistakes or misunderstandings allows the organization to overcome setbacks together.
Communication: Tone and Tenor
Every conversation, in-person or via text, email, or Teams, is an opportunity to increase dignity and respect. In the business of everyday operations, people focus on sending messages rather than affirming dignity and respect in communicating information to others. Simple aspects of email, such as greeting the reader using his or her name, signal respect to the recipient. If the sender deliberately reflects on the tone and tenor of the communication, each communication can validate the recipient and lead to a further, positive exchange of ideas.
Sarcasm can be incredibly damaging to a culture of dignity and respect. A healthy, respectful sense of humor is always beneficial to defuse friction and bring people together. But, humor that targets others has the potential to demean individuals and undermine their worth. Sarcastic banter can be humorous and enjoyable to some, and is certainly a part of Army culture, but it can have extremely harmful impacts on individuals and teams. Often, the speaker does not appreciate the emotional burden sarcastic remarks cause because they do not truly know the person to whom they are speaking. Although said in jest, sarcastic comments often tear people down and create division.
An organization’s strength is its people. When we honor the value of each individual and recognize each person’s feelings, needs, and traditions, we maximize individual potential and improve the team. Building a cohesive culture of dignity and respect requires emotional grit and discipline from each member of the team. Leadership can set the tone, but each paralegal and attorney must decide for themselves how to positively influence those around them. TAL
LTC Farrell is the Majors Career Manager at the Personnel, Plans, and Training Office in the Office of The Judge Advocate General at the Pentagon.
SGM Drummond is the Command Paralegal Noncommissioned Officer for 10th Mountain Division and Fort Drum at Form Drum, New York.
Notes
1. See, e.g., U.S. Dep’t of Army, Reg. 600-20, Army Command Policy para. 1-6 (24 July 2020).
2. Dignity, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dignity (last visited Aug. 2, 2023).
3. Respect: Noun (& Interjection), Oxford Eng. Dictionary, https://www.oed.com/dictionary/respect_n?tab=meaning_and_use (last visited Aug. 2, 2023).
4. See Charlie Kuhn, What’s the Difference Between Dignity and Respect?, Cultures of Dignity (June 26, 2018), https://culturesofdignity.com/blog/blog-cultures-of-dignity/difference-between-dignity-and-respect.
5. Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, pt. II, l. 525 (1711), in The Poems of Alexander Pope 160 (John Butt ed., 1963).