From Management to Leadership: Strategies for Transforming Health, 3rd Edition

Essential Elements of a Healthy Relationship

Leaders who relate comfortably to others often take for granted their talent for forming relationships. Their relationships have a naturalness and a spontaneity that result in mutually beneficial outcomes. When a particular leader-follower situation is not going well, the relationship-centered leader often reflects first on the connection with the supporter to determine the issues. And because the leader is already skillful in this area, the assessment process is not likely to produce undue anxiety. But if the leader is not naturally talented at forming strong relationships, this affects both the accuracy and ease of the assessment process. However, it is possible to increase interpersonal competency ...