As the Inc.com article “7 Ways to Earn Respect as a Leader” explains, it’s better to earn respect than to demand it. Some people in authority believe that their status entitles them to respect, but this kind of deference isn’t likely to last long. Real respect is earned by showing the same. Seems simple, but it’s not always as easy as it sounds. Here are seven tips to earn, rather than demand, respect:

1. Be consistent. If you say one thing and do another, your requests will lack credibility. Stay consistent and practice what you preach.
2. Be punctual. Missing appointments or being late demonstrates a total disregard for others and will lead to being taken less seriously.
3. Be responsive. Don’t leave your colleagues hanging when they have a question or request. Make sure everyone knows the best way to reach you, and always respond promptly.
4. Be right much of the time, but be comfortable being wrong. Try to make good decisions most the time by doing your homework and thinking things out. But, sometimes you’ll have to make decisions without all the information you would like to have. “If you’re wrong, smile and be happy you learned something that day,” the author writes.
5. Forgive others and yourself for mistakes. “Healthy leaders encourage experimentation and create environments of safe failure,” the author writes. “Encourage people to take mitigated risks, and set an example for how to shake off a failure and bounce back.”
6. Show respect to others when they’re wrong and right. Being too hard on people who make errors reflect worse on you than them. And on the other hand, avoid showing jealousy towards those who are successful.
7. Help those who are holding you back, but not too much. Help subordinates succeed by overcoming their weaknesses, but don’t spend too much time appeasing habitual troublemakers at the expense of the entire team. Know when to provide support to a weak team member and when to cut your losses.

Click here to read the entire article from Inc.com.