“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success
is knowing how to get along with people.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
Many junior and mid-level managers find difficulty with achieving success at work not because they do not have the intelligence, academic training, and technical know-how. It is not unusual to find unsuccessful managers who struggle with their job only because they do not have the right people skills. Simply put, people do not like them. It is true that leadership is not about popularity. But it is also important to have the respect, if not the admiration of people in order to move them to accomplish the tasks you need to do. While there are many specific people skills, the most important skills is the ability to see the best in people. When a leader or manager is able to see the best in people, he or she becomes a source of encouragement, which in turn, motivates a staff member to do better at work.
There are also cases when managers fall into episodes of depression because they find it hard to motivate a team. Some can even be so stressed out about their jobs that the only relief they can find is to take anti-anxiety medications. But whether one needs to take medication or not to relieve the stress, the bottomline is that a poorly led group does not meet the targets and the desired performance As a result, both the team and the leader suffers. Whether the business is about real estate, banking, consumer product retailing, or business process outsourcing, many of the managerial challenges are about the same thing: moving people towards achievement. Any way one looks at it, the greater burden falls on the shoulders of the leader who has to steer the group to accomplish their objectives.
But why do some leaders fail?
One of the most common mistakes made is thinking that having a position automatically makes a person a leader. As the clich