Practising good interpersonal skills is the hallmark of a productive leader. Productive leaders earn the trust of their followers by keeping their word and staying loyal to them. They expect their followers to stay loyal to them in return. Leaders should understand the importance of emotional intelligence and practise the skills of empathy. They build rapport with followers by remembering their names, being friendly and taking an interest in their welfare. Leaders need to be good at leading upwards (i.e. their boss) as well as downwards (i.e. their staff).A leader gets things done through people. To do this effectively the leader must practise the art of good communication. The higher up you go in the leadership hierarchy the greater the need for good interpersonal relationships and communication skills. We don't need to learn how to hear, as it is an innate capacity. However, we do need to learn how to listen. Most people feel that listening comes naturally. This is not true. Active listening must be learned and includes restating, summarising, paraphrasing and clarifying to check understanding. People like people who listen attentively to them. Listening is probably the most complimentary thing you can do, and the easiest and best way to win friends and influence people. This book explores how leaders can develop the high-impact inter-personal skills which will make them both more effective and more successful. I have asked most employees about what could be improved in their organisation and there is one topic that's almost sure to be near the top of the list. Communication. This doesn't just mean knowing what's happening. It also means receiving effective communication as part of the way they are managed or led. Effective communication is perhaps one of the most important skills any manager or leader can develop. In this book we will explore how leaders can use communication skills to make them both more effective, and more successful. Focusing particularly on inter-personal communication skills, we'll look at a range of topics. Why are people important?A large part of the success of a organisation relies on a group of people co-operating, collaborating and working together to achieve the desired result. Yet experience shows that, in spite of the widespread use of leadership methodologies, organisations are still failing. Why is this? We use the most extensive and leadership methodologies, which provide detailed processes for leading tasks and deliverables. It is my belief that these have become so detailed, that they no longer focus on the key element - the people responsible for delivering success.Before we look in more detail at how to manage people, we need to debunk several leadership myths.Myth 1 - Using a leadership methodology is enoughIf this were true, then all projects would succeed, when clearly they do not. Project management methodologies are excellent in what they cover. They are not enough.Myth 2 - Organisations aren't about changeIf your organisation is not going to change something - what are you hoping to achieve? This raises a more fundamental question.Myth 3 - Delivery of the original scope is the best measure of successYou only have to read the newspaper to see an article about yet another major project failure. The team probably thought it was very successful. After all, they delivered what the organisation originally asked for. However, what they really need now may be quite different. The world is changing, and the project scope will change too. This requires good change management, which is not always present (methodologies do not cover this adequately). If the people involved in a organisation are not comfortable with those changes, the organisation is at risk.