Leadership is about relationships. The ability to work well with others is vital to the growth and development of leaders.

The challenge is learning how to approach our relationships with others. Here are a few suggestions to consider:

1) Think before speaking or writing. Relationships are destroyed when we speak out of anger or frustration without considering how it affects the other person. We can apologize, but once spoken, we cannot take it back and the wounds do not heal quickly. Think before opening our mouth or hitting send.

2) Consider the other person’s needs and feelings before our own. Too often, we are only concerned with how a situation reflects on us than on others. Relationships are strengthened when people know they are important to the one who leads them.

3) Invest a little time. The most precious commodity of our day is time. If not careful, we fill our time with trivial matters and we fail to invest in the kind of relationships needed for the future.

Building strong leaders means building strong relationships and these are a starting point for developing leaders for the future.