An important aspect of good leadership is the ability to work and relate with others.  There are ten qualities that characterize successful leadership in the area of relating and communicating with other people.
 
1.    Availability
A good leader is available and in touch with people. An important leadership skill is the ability to recognize needs and be able to respond to them quickly and in the moment.

2.    Facilitating Harmonious Relationships
A good leader realizes the importance of harmonious relationships and is proactive in creating a harmonious atmosphere.  Successful results are born out of harmony rather than conflict. Good leadership will prioritize keeping conflict and disharmony to the minimum.

3.    Approachability    
A good leader is approachable and has an open door policy. Good leadership creates an environment where openness and honesty can occur in an atmosphere of fairness rather than judgment.
 
4.    Appropriate use of authority
Sensitivity to the proper use, and conversely the misuse, of their authority is the whole mark of good leadership.  A good leader will not use their position of authority for self gratification and promotion or in a controlling and domineering manner.  Successful leaders use their positional power with wisdom and sensitivity to the appropriateness of the circumstances.

5.    Confidentiality
Good leaders conduct conferences and meetings in an atmosphere of trust.  They display appropriate confidentiality and respect towards others and about others.

6.    Self Motivated   
Good leaders set and use goals to motivate themselves and others.  They understand the importance of personal and professional development.  Successful leaders do what is necessary to upgrade their knowledge and skills and be on the cutting edge in their field.  Successful leaders not only motivate themselves in personal development but also motivate those around them.

7.    Provide Support
Good leaders are able to provide emotional support for those for whom they are responsible.  They recognize the importance of encouragement and inspiring confidence and also give recognition of a job well done.

8.    Maintaining Motivation and Team Spirit
A good leader provides incentives and motivators to improve the performance of their employees to challenge them to maintain quality results.
 
9.    Clear Communication
A good leader is an excellent communicator.  Their leadership involves communicating clearly the objectives and procedures required of a task.  They set clear, attainable, and measurable goals. 

  10.  An Understanding of Group Dynamics
A good leader understands the dynamics of group relationships.  Successful leaders have the ability to lead groups without aggravating conflict and minimizing disharmony. They are inclusive and skilled in creating a sense of team unity.  They are adept at balancing the strengths and weaknesses of the group for best results.

Leadership

If you want to make the move from managing to leading, from being a professional to being an inspirer, from being one of the team to being a leader of the team, you need to know the ABC of Superlative Leadership.

Leadership Quotes

A is for Appreciative Cultures, the end result of a leader’s work, when the culture he or she fosters becomes an appreciative value of the company.
B is for rock-solid Belief that your team can move mountains.
C is for Culture, which is the way people behave when you’re not looking.
D is for the Drive for Power that makes you want to lead.
E is for Encouragement, like sun after the rain.
F is for Fun, an indication that the right work is happening.
G is for Growing your people. Like Sir Colin Marshall, head of British Airways, who personally attended every one of his customer care programmes, “Putting People First”.
H is for Helicopter vision, because you need to see in three time zones: the near, the middle and the far.
I is for leader Identity, the ability to be comfortable in your own shoes.
J is for Joy because leaders rejoice in their own blessings as well as the successes of their team.
K is for Knowing your people, not just by name and number, but by strength and weakness, character and spirit, skills and potential, what makes them sigh and what makes them soar.
L is for Learning, because learning is change and learning is growth.
M is for Mission which leaders live as well as write. Like Bill Gates insisting that his staff at Microsoft, Germany, use the familiar “Du” instead of the formal “Sie”.
N is for the Nobel complex, the belief that everything your people do is worthy of a Nobel prize.
O is for Opportunity. Like Edmund McIlhenny who returned from the American Civil War to find his sugar plantation and salt works in ruins except for a few hot Mexican peppers that had sown themselves. He used them to produce a sauce that is now known as Tabasco and sold around the world.
P is for Plain-talking because leaders need to be understood.
Q is for Questions, such as “What do you need me to do?” and “How can I help you work better?” and “What should I be doing?”
R is for Respect, the touchstone of every relationship a leader has.
S is for Symbols, the language of leadership. Like the CEO of a candy factory facing financial ruin, whose first symbolic act was to shorten the tails on the sugar mice.
T is for the Traits of courage and determination, patience and perseverance.
U is for Unleashing what’s there. Like 3M, who allow their scientists to spend 15% of their time working on projects that interest them.
V is for Values, the guiding principles of the team, or “the Walkmans of the mind”.
W is for the Way, the Chinese “tao”, the route that leaders take and others follow.
X is for Xtraordinary because leaders get ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
Y is for Yes, because there is always a plus to be found even in the worst situation and the toughest setback.
Z is for Zero tolerance of failure, sub-performance and giving up.

Learn these simple principles, and there are no limits to where you can lead your team.

I was flying home several months ago from a management-leadership program I was teaching for a company in Phoenix, and I struck up a conversation with the gentleman next to me on the plane. During the conversation, I asked him if he considered his boss to be a good manager, and he said, “Yes, he is.” I then asked him if he thought his boss was a good leader, and after thinking a moment, he said, “No, he isn’t.”

This man was not alone in the way he thought. According to a survey by the marketing information company TSN, “Less than one-third of all supervisors and managers are perceived to be strong leaders.” As a result, increasingly larger percentages of our workforce are disengaged. According to the survey

• 40% of workers feel disconnected from their employers

• Two out of every three workers do not identify with or feel motivated to drive their employer’s business goals and objectives

• 25% of employees are just “ showing up to collect a paycheck”

There is a tremendous opportunity for managers and supervisors to set themselves and their companies apart from their competition. So what does it take for a manager to be “perceived as a strong leader?”

THE FIVE “C’S” OF LEADERSHIP

Character

People will not follow someone for long if they can’t trust them. Not long ago a well known CEO was “ousted” after a probe into a personal relationship with a female executive at the same firm. “The board concluded that the facts reflected poorly on his judgment and would impair his ability to lead the company…his actions were inconsistent with our code of conduct.” Leaders have to be trustworthy to produce sustainable results.

Caring

The old cliché is true: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” When Lou Holtz was coach at Notre Dame, the second question he used to ask every player before being selected to play after “Can I trust you?” was “Do you CARE about me, your teammates, and Notre Dame?” If a player had a selfish motive for being on the team and didn’t care enough to put the team interests first, he didn’t want that young man on the team. He also said if the young man didn’t believe that he could trust the coach and feel cared about in return, he shouldn’t want to be on the team. Leaders show they care about their team personally and professionally.

Commitment

There’s a poster on the gym wall in Clint Eastwood’s movie Pretty Baby that says “Winners do what losers won’t do.” Leaders are like that also. They DO things poor managers won’t do. Arguably, one of the greatest business leaders of our time was Sam Walton. What was his number one rule for business success? COMMIT to your business. “Believe in it more than anybody else. I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work. I don’t know if you’re born with this kind of passion, or if you can learn it. But I do know you need it.”

Confidence

Leaders know where they are going and demonstrate by their words and actions that there is no doubt that they will arrive. Furthermore, they make you want to go with them. They instill confidence in you as well. They get you to believe in yourself and your team and to see yourself as winners before it actually occurs. In his book Reagan on Leadership, James Strock lists Ronald Reagan’s accomplishments while in office and concludes “Above all, Reagan restored America’s belief in itself.”

Communication

Leaders have crystal clear compelling visions and communicate those visions repeatedly. In his book Leadership, the first principle Rudolph Giuliani shares is his insistence on his routine morning meeting. “I consider it the cornerstone to efficient functioning within any system…We accomplish a great deal during that first hour, in large part because the lines of communication were so clear.”

In addition to letting people also know clearly where they stand, leaders are also exceptional listeners. In his book Team Bush – Leadership Lessons from the Bush White House, author Donald Kettl discusses how President Bush “makes sure he listens” to his top advisors. The lesson? “Make sure you get unfiltered information. Top managers need all sorts of information, good and bad…especially bad. This is why it is crucial to have a mechanism in place that insures a steady stream of information from all quarters.” leadership quotes

Managers that develop these qualities will create an environment where their team will willingly do what they would not otherwise do.