Leadership: Simple steps to leading better

A good leader has a great impact on the success and failure of a business project. Leadership is all about channelling the skills and abilities of your subordinates towards the designated goal. A leader always encourages the team, keeps it focused on the main objective, nourishes individual talent, and gives due credit where it belongs.

In this article we throw some light on how you can lead your team better by following a few simple rules. Your leadership qualities should arouse respect and not fear. Remember a true leader is the one who never gives the hint of leading but unleashes the potential of the others.

Be patient with them. They are not the sum total of their qualifications, professional degrees and experiences. They carry with them their ideals, beliefs, peculiarities, cultural and ethnic values. So if you are interacting with them, you have to keep the individual differences in mind.

It is always emphasized that the first person who comes to you with a grudge always has an upper hand. Avoid these temptations or avoid falling prey to these clichés. If someone first comes to you with a grievance don't assume that he or she is an initiator or innocent. Don't let him or her walk away with an edge. Hear the version of the other party too. Only then take a decision.

Be a better judge of characters, after al that's why you are a leader! Show a keen professional interest in your employees. After a while you will come to know who are performers and who are riders. Praise the performers publicly but criticize them in person. For riders you can allot them certain responsibilities where they have to perform before the team or audience. It will force them to sharpen their skills.

Keep the channels of communication open. They will keep the confusions and rumors at bay.

Avoid being seen with a particular employee often and for long durations. Even if both of you are discussing something as mundane as the share market, it will send the wrong signal to others and the particular employee in question can exploit this nearness.

You always lead better and communicate effectively if you keep abreast with the latest developments in your field. This keeps your smart and updated, and conveys to your subordinates that you cannot be taken for a ride. It also instils confidence in you as a leader.

Ronald Reagan Republican Club gets $1,500 (Queens Courier)
The Ronald Reagan Republican Club of Howard Beach met on February 25. The meeting hosted two guest speakers: Michael Ricatta, President of the Better Leadership of America, who presented the Club with a check of $1,500; and Faye Moore, Vice President of the Social Services Employees Union Local 371. Both are pictured with Rosemary Ciulla-Frisone.

Education bill targets Leadership (Hattiesburg American)
Better Leadership is one way to help chronically underperforming schools improve, state Board of Education members said Monday.

Wareham selectmen criticized for poor Leadership (The Standard-Times)
WAREHAM - Citizens and a former selectman addressed the Board of Selectmen Tuesday night, decrying the previous week's tumultuous meeting and calling for better Leadership.

Albany Police train be better leaders (WALB Albany)
Albany -- Albany Police wants better Leadership within the department. That's why they're training their first-line supervisors under a Leadership program.

Namibia: Operation Scrub Brush - Leaders At Work (AllAfrica.com)
Leadership in the 21st century is a more complex game than ever before. New Era went to have a peep view of an innovative training programme that has found its way to Namibia.

Study: Switch in retirement plan has less appeal for senior cops (The Washington Examiner)
D.C. police officers will have to pay several times their salaries to switch from a 25-year to a 20-year retirement plan under a D.C. Council proposal, eroding its appeal to veteran officers, according to an actuarial study commissioned by the District.