Blog Archive

Friday, January 13, 2017

Living our values: Respect

Joseph Mazza
Office Managing Partner
Los Angeles, CA

One of RSM’s values is respect, which is defined as; a feeling of deep admiration for someone or  something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements. Respect is a way of treating or thinking about something or someone. We show our respect for our fellow RSM colleagues in many ways, by thinking before we act, by being polite or timely and by listening to others as much as we talk or just saying “Good morning” or “Hello” when we see people. Respect is also displayed by offering others coaching and feedback.

Over the years, I have participated in many employee career coaching conversations, focus groups and exit interviews. One of the things that has always stood out to me in these sessions is that our people usually want and need more feedback. They like to be coached. This is something I have observed of people at all levels and why RSM has made investments in our feedback tools in the last year. But I have often thought to myself, “If everyone wants more feedback and coaching, then why aren’t people giving more feedback and coaching?”

Which brings me to my interpretation of respect; treat others the way you would like to be treated. If you feel you would like more feedback and coaching, then give more feedback and coaching to others. It is kind of a pay it forward, or good karma concept. If we all give more of it, we will all receive more of it. Additionally, coaching and feedback is a way of showing people we care, and has been proven to reduce employee turnover.

 So, as we start this new year, I’m asking my team to  show how much we care about our colleagues across RSM by providing more timely feedback and coaching. It demonstrates our respect for each other; our people will feel good; and we will have happy colleagues.