People skills are a pre-requisite for any great leader. If you are in a leadership role but lack some of the essential people handling abilities, you will harm your position. A few minor changes in your people skills can make a huge impact on your leadership ability. Every leader must have these 3 people skills:

1. Listen properly to people

To be an effective leader, it is vital that you hear what people are saying to you with care and attention. It will be problematic if you misunderstand what's being said constantly or simply don't care about what people are saying. Listening and understanding what people say will lead to instant improvements in your leadership abilities.

2. Make people around you comfortable

Another important thing is to ensure that the people around you are feeling comfortable. Anyone in a leadership position obviously appears intimidating to some subordinates. To avoid people just paying you lip service in order to be in your good books, you must encourage meaningful exchanges with them by making them realize that it is okay to tell you the truth. If you have a problem in how comfortable people are around you, it is worthwhile to try and change this area of your people handling.

Indeed, you can go a step ahead and please them. Learn something from the salesperson. After all, being a leader requires the same skills as a salesperson. It does not harm anyone if you are generous with praise. It is human nature to like to be appreciated and especially when it comes from unexpected quarters it becomes all the more valuable.

If you want the people around you to do your bidding or to follow your dream, you have to make them comfortable. But, to get people to be excited about your mission you need to make them feel good about who they are and what they are doing. I have heard of a salesman who was doing exceptionally well. His competitors could not fathom what was special about his style that got him all the sales. When they followed him to learn his tactics, from door to door, this is what they saw. He would knock at a door, and an old ninety-plus woman opened the door. Before she could open her mouth to say something, he said, ?Hey! Baby! You look great, today!? And that did the trick! After that she listened to his presentation and bought whatever he wanted to sell to her. So, the ?feel good? factor is extremely important.

3. Remember the names of people around you

Remembering names of people around you can be a very challenging task for any leader but the dividends of this are well worth the effort. You can make a person feel important and recognized when you address them by their name and conversely, unimportant if you forget their name. There is nothing more magical to any person than being addressed by their name. So, make a special effort to memorize the names of all those around you, regardless of their status.