This is only to the humble, courageous, GREAT ones among us who exemplify how leadership is a choice, not a position!

This is only to the humble, courageous, GREAT ones among us who exemplify how leadership is a choice, not a position!

Good leadership makes problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and solve them.

How to be effective leader: 

• Admitting our mistakes
• We all make mistakes in both our personal and professional lives, but in many instances, our first response when confronting a mistake is to deny it or make up an excuse. All of us don't want to seem stupid or ill informed, but we must have the self-confidence and integrity to admit our mistakes. Only with such admission will we maintain the trust of those we lead. When I have made a mistake that has upset an individual, often I find that a simple apology goes a long way.
• We are all human beings, imperfect and prone to making mistakes. We grow and improve by learning from our mistakes. Admitting mistakes is not easy, but as those of us who have done it in the past can attest, there is a cleansing feeling after admitting wrong, almost as if the weight of the world has been lifted off our shoulders
• Making mistakes is unavoidable. Whether in our personal or professional lives, the manner with which we handle our errors makes all the difference. The good leaders will admit mistake and move on. The great leader will admit mistake, learn from it, and never make it again.

• Motivate our team members from time to another
• Make time to talk chat with your team members. Ask them about any concerns or problems that they have, and ask what would make their life easier. Often, quite simple, cheap things can be done that will really improve people’s day to day experience of work. If realistic changes are suggested, make an effort to put these into practice: this can generate a huge amount of goodwill. If you’re accommodating towards your team, they’re much more likely to go the extra mile for you.
• Some forward-looking companies are switching over to this work model, which asks employees to produce a certain amount of work (“results”) rather than asking them to work for a certain amount of time (the traditional 8-4 or 9-5, five days a week, model). An easy way to try something similar might be to tell your team that if a certain milestone is reached by Friday lunchtime, everyone can have the afternoon off. (You might be surprised how productive people can be!)

• Let them share their opinions in making critical decisions
• As the saying goes, if we put three people together in a room, we'll often get four opinions. People can often see issues differently as they all have different experiences, values, personalities, styles, and needs. Team decision-making strategies should be used when we want to get participation and achieve consensus.
• A consensus decision depends on hearing everyone's opinion. In a team situation, that doesn't always happen naturally: assertive people can tend to get the most attention. Less assertive team members can often feel intimidated and don't always speak up, particularly when their ideas are very different from the popular view.
• The Stepladder Technique can help us manage these differences. Each team member thinks about the problem individually and, one at a time, introduces new ideas to the group leader without knowing what ideas have already been discussed. After the first two people present their ideas, they discuss them together. Then the leader adds a third person, who presents his or her ideas before hearing the previous input. This cycle of presentation and discussion continues until the whole team has a chance to add their opinions.
• The benefit of this process is that everyone feels heard and acknowledged. Once all of the ideas have been presented, the team can look at ways to narrow the options down, and make a decision.

• It's all about requesting tasks not ordering
• We don't have to set ourselves above our followers, except in carrying responsibilities, because the key of successful leadership always lies in influence not authority.
• Leaders must look within themselves to find new ways of influencing people. It is the leader that must be the first to change; the leader then gathers followers, but not those that only do what they are told. Leaders want mature and responsible people that can look ahead. As a result a partnership will be formed with those people who are personally committed to themselves and the success of the business.

• Thanking and appreciation
• Saying thank-you is particularly important in a voluntary role, where there is no pay, but it’s also important in the workplace. Thank employees (or volunteers) for their contributions, on a regular basis. Make a particular point of thanking them for anything above and beyond the call of duty: perhaps one of your staff stayed late every night for a week to finish a project. Let them know that you noticed, and that you’re grateful.
• Bringing an inexpensive gift for your team can be a great way to reward people and to make them feel appreciated. Unexpected gifts go a long way towards building a friendly and motivating office environment.

• Celebrating success
• Not everyone views accomplishment and successes the same way. As leaders, we need to be willing to take different perspective and celebrate success the way others do and not just the way you do. Be especially careful, when someone achieves something important to them even if you have done it before. Be sure to celebrate and recognize accomplishments with enthusiasm.
•  Emphasize success rather than failure and focus on catching people doing the “right things”.  Also strive to have a clear link between results and rewards.

How to deal with difficult people in our team:

• The Silent Person:

'replies with one word and always shy and afraid'

• Allow enough time for conversation.
• Ask him open-ended questions.
• Praise his good ideas.

• The negative person:

'He's always demotivating and sees all problems have no solutions'

• present the problems before he does and offers solutions.
• Say 'Now, tell me something positive'.

• The hostility person:

'Always aggressive'

• Be friendly and keep good eye contact.
• Stay calm anyway.

• The manipulator:

'Manipulates others for personal gain'

• Set limits.
• Be tough.

• The fault finder:

'He looks for team members' faults all the time'

• Ask him for specific faults.
• No general talks
• Ask him for correction action and positive view.

When the team doesn't work:

• Interruption:
• One of the most frustrating things when we and our team try to be productive at work and one of our colleagues drops in and stays beyond a reasonable amount of time.
• Honestly we have to be a potent conversation killer. Remember, we’re not being rude, only focused. If we just don’t have the time to chat, tell the other person or schedule a follow up at a time that works for us.

• Backstabbing:
• Know that anything said “in private” can easily be taken public. In fact, backstabbers often try to gather personal secrets and controversial professional views. Saying less will protect you more.
• Good deeds can actually help us through that, as If we become known for doing favors for people, we’ll add and create a more positive place to work.
• Admittedly, we can’t always pick who we work with, but whenever possible, try to surround ourselves with the people we most trust. We have to learn how to better read someone like a book if possible.Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, says: “The rule of thumb used in communication research is that 90 percent or more of an emotional message is non-verbal.”.. Meaning, if we pay attention to someone’s body language, we’ll be able to perceive a lot more info about them. So here are some tips from body language experts that offer clues if someone might be fibbing: 
1. They scratch their nose when talking
2. Look upward and right ward while talking.
3. Can't look you straight in the eye.
4. Fidget a lot while talking.
5. They are vague and lack details in their story
6. Hesitate before answering any of your questions.

• Not sharing job knowledge:
• We have to know that sharing job knowledge is one of the most important factors in leading a team. Especially, when having a lot of job specifications to be done by only one team with small number of members.
• One determining factor is the our openness in terms of willingness to share knowledge and partner interaction. Openness explains the partner’s willingness to put all cards on the table, eliminate hidden agendas, make their motives, feelings, and biases known, and invite other opinions and points of view.
• Trust is one of the most important facilitators in communication that creates good relationships. Trust is developed upon a reliable person, someone who is honest and can be counted on after a long term relationship that gives way for better knowledge sharing. We have to believe that knowledge sharing is a human behavior that can't be fostered without genuine trust and care.

• Forgetting the vision:
• The purpose of our vision statement is to stretch boundaries and comfort zones and enable the people within the organization to have a sense of what could be.
• The spirit of our vision statement will drive the behaviors, creativity, commitment, engagement and determination of the people within the organization. If our vision statement opens people's eyes to what is possible and inspires them to work toward achieving it, then it has served its purpose well.
• Of course, it is the leader who must constantly and energetically remind and rally people to the vision, as it's his role to be the direction setter and spokesperson for the Vision Statement and breathe life into the Vision.

Always remember, leaders don’t create followers,
they create more leaders!