A great leader is someone who takes responsibility  This means taking the flack when things don’t go to plan  This in turn protects your staff  This means that they can now do their best work and feel safe to take creative risks  This creates a better work environment and a better quality of life 

 It means being willing to make decisions  Many leaders put off decisions because it means committing to something, they will be held accountable for  The result is that the whole business flounders, and nothing gets done  Making quick decisions means being okay with potentially being wrong  This will earn you the respect of your team and your superiors 

 Taking responsibility means owning up when things go wrong  But this also means that you can take credit when things go very well 

 Looking after staff also means looking after their physical needs  Are they comfortable in the office?  Are they healthy?  Are they happy with their colleagues?  The more you ensure these things, the more you can help them to do their best work 

Great leaders should have emotional intelligence  Emotional intelligence means understanding the mood and motivations of others  This means that you also know how what you say to someone will affect their mood and motivate them or not 

 You will be faced with difficult conversations – such as criticizing work that someone has done for you  The way you communicate your feelings and instruct the corrections can hugely influence the productivity of that member of staff going forward  This comes down to every last word choice – so be very careful 

Great leaders must be able to motivate staff  Your job is NOT to micromanage and to tell your team precisely what steps to take when working on a project  This can remove any creative freedom from a job and make it unrewarding for the professional  It wastes time with back and forth  It wastes the talent of the individual hired for their specific skills in that area 

 You should not try to punish or reward your team for their efforts  Punishments create the wrong atmosphere. This can create stress and even cause fighting among your team as a result.  Even rewards will make your team too focused on just the end goal  Studies show that this can actually dampen creativity and problem-solving skills  That said, for completely menial work, using incentives can be effective 

 Instead, you should give freedom and control to your team  By doing this, you will be giving them the ownership over certain projects  This lets them approach it in the way that they want to, and means they can feel proud when things go well  It is not intrinsically motivating, meaning that they feel motivated to work on the project even when it doesn’t excite them otherwise 

Great leaders should have excellent communication skills  Your job is to convey instructions and to let your team know what is expected of them  Delivering this in a concise way will avoid errors and prevent wasted time  You need to make sure you list the key points in a clear and straightforward manner 

 Explain to your team the reasons why you are asking them to do things  This helps them to feel more respected and valued  At the same time, it gives them the flexibility to get real work done 

 A great leader should be able to command respect through charisma and tone  Speak more slowly  Learn to use long pauses  Speak with your body 

Great leaders are great managers  A manager is someone who can manage people and resources in order to meet targets and get work done 

 This is means knowing where to assign each task 

 It also means breaking your goals down into smaller targets that you can work toward 

 Process fixing can help you to work more efficiently 

 Do not “play” at manager  That means you shouldn’t carry out tasks and projects that are purely intended to make you feel more important.  Many meetings are in fact a complete waste of time