In the world where there are leaders and there are followers, knowledge may be power, but people value how much you care for them more than they value how much knowledge you have. Many aspiring leaders fail in their pursuit because they fail to recognize that being an expert on a subject does not make a leader. In fact, people don’t want a boss.

Effective leaders are great inspirer because people want to be inspired to move into action rather than boss around. People care about how you say things rather on what things are being said.

Leadership is only materialized until the information that warrants action is conveyed and acted upon. The exchange of information between persons, occur through inter-personal skills (IPS). This is a skill, thus it can be mastered although some are natural in picking up this skill faster. Knowledge alone does not make an effective leader, it needs IPS.

IPS are composed of tangibles and intangibles; the four tangibles I found basic are: attending, listening, observing, and responding; which is given here as the acrostic ALOR. Mastering these four tangibles allows leaders to allure followers into action.

Attending is your body language as well as position when conveying information to your team. Your physical as well as relational position to your team affects exchange of information. It is therefore important to clear all barriers, physical or otherwise, in order to avoid distortion of information during its transfer. Body language, too, affects correspondence.

In a world of globalization, especially in business, people engaged globally that is why it’s very important to be culture sensitive in dealing with your team. This means employing the skill of listening. Listening does not merely mean being quiet while the other person is talking, but rather it means listening emphatically to the speaker; a mark of an effective leader. Emphatic listening stems from the desire to understand what the speaker is saying. Emphatic listening is attained when the speaker feels the desire of the listener to hear what he/she has to say, it is marked by the speaker talking freely and sharing openly his/her thoughts and opinions.

Observing is a skill involves the leader’s sense. It’s about surveying his/her surrounding to gather information. This skill likens a leader to a scout from the early days of the settlers’ where families and communities travel in caravans. The scout’s job is to survey the conditions up ahead by staying ahead of the caravan. His well developed observation skills gather information like the weather condition, impassable terrain, and danger. Therefore, like a scout, a good leader should always be ahead of the team, and always on the lookout for information that helps the team stay on track in achieving of their goal.

Perhaps the highest level of skill an effective leader must have is, responding. It’s an art that leaders need to master. It is characterized by not just knowing the right thing to say or do but rather by knowing when and how to say it.

Each and everyone are unique; therefore a good leader must exert an effort to cross different boundaries and pull them together to unite unique individuals to work harmoniously together.

~Terry

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