Back in November I wrote a post titled 4 Steps To Being A Better Leader. In actuality I probably should have used the term "concepts" instead of "steps" because those are really ideals that one holds a good leader has, but they're not really steps are learning how to be a better leader.

ReACT Sofia conference on  "EU Economy - crises and opportunities"
European Parliament via Compfight

Something that many people find strange is that they tend to wonder whether someone can learn the steps to be a good leader. If they can't then I'm out of a job. If they can't, the book I wrote means absolutely nothing to anybody. I tend to believe that people, if they want to be, can be good leaders. For some people it's harder to do than others, and that's usually due to having to let go of preconceived notions of what leadership is all about.

I'm going to make this easy; at least I hope it's easy. If it's not, you may need to do some serious reflection on what you're all about. For everyone else, if you follow these three steps you will notice a major improvement in your relationship with those around you. Here we go:

1. Be your natural self. What I have found is that when I sit down and have conversations with most people they take one of three forms.

One, they don't talk all that much because it takes them a while to warm up to new people.

Two, they over talk to the point where you either can't get a word in edgewise or they talk about themselves to the extreme.

Three, they're very natural in their conversation, even if they may have to warm up to you before they reach that point. In all cases, I find that over time everybody finds their natural voice. And almost every body's natural voice is pretty cool.

2. Create a list of expectations for yourself and for those who report to you, then share them. If you don't know what you're trying to achieve, you're never going to achieve it. If the people who report to you don't have any idea what they're supposed to be trying to achieve, they're never going to achieve it.

I often hear from people who don't like the reviews they got on their job performance for the year because most people think they're doing a good job. It's always possible that the job they're doing and the goals of the leader or manager aren't the same, in which case perceptions will be skewed.

As leaders, sometimes you think that taking time out to create lists or write procedures makes it look like you're not working. Believe it or not -- your job; thinking should be a big part of your job when your leader. Taking this step go the long way towards making sure everybody is on the same page.

3. At some point of every day make sure you say something nice to every person that works for you or with you, even if it's only hello. Making sure that you would not people gives them the feeling that you appreciate that they're there, and people always work better for anyone that gives them appreciation. It also makes them comfortable around you, and comfortable employees make fewer mistakes.

If saying hello opened up a dialogue, and brace that dialog because it's always better to know what's going on than to be surprised later on with something you really don't want to deal with.

There you are, three short steps that will instantly make you a good leader in the eyes of your employees, and hopefully in your eyes as well. As I said earlier, if you can't do these three things you probably need some self reflection.