I just came across this very interesting post where things I believe and practice everyday about how to deal with teams and Clients are very well expressed:

“…as a business owner my allegiance first and foremost is to my staff, then to my client, and then to myself and the rest of the board.

The reason for this is that happy and productive staff is a prerequisite to having happy and productive clients – it simply doesn’t work the other way around.

This doesn’t mean that I will side with my staff if they are wrong, or not be critical of what they might say or do, it means that I acknowledge that it is my staff that deliver great work and they need an environment conducive to producing it.

(…)

Treat me badly if you like, I have skin as thick as rhino hide, but treat my people with respect and they’ll swing for the fences for you every time.”