Psychology of management

 
 
3. The skills of effective leadership. 
 
1. Leaders convictions and values. 
Convictions and values appear to be one of the most important leadership factors. These 
are the frames within which all our interactions take place. They determine how we will interpret 
events and what sense we will impart to them. General convictions and values lay in the base of 
motivation and determine which action strategies will be approved, and which will be rejected. 

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They determine the mental programs a person will choose considering a particular situation, and, 
in the long run, what actions (s)he will make in this situation. 
Convictions and values themselves are determined by deep-rooted processes: unconscious 
assumptions on identification, norms and culture, and basic axioms on human nature and world 
arrangement. These axioms are not subject to objective verification, they rather relate to the 
matters of belief and are accepted without questioning. Thus, certain convictions and values 
often grow out of deeper assumptions of the role, norms, etc. which, as a rule, are not even 
formulated and which a person does not realize. 
2. Skills in communication and relationships with people
Effective macro-leadership supposes using communication skills and those in relationships 
that are important for self-expression and goal attainment when co-working with other people. 
These skills make it possible for a leader to create a situation where people can feel themselves 
comfortably and work effectively. They include: 
- understanding people’s subjective experience; 
- presence of criteria enabling recognition of people’s behavioral patterns and styles of 
thinking; 
- presence of operational skills and techniques enabling influencing people’s people’s 
behavioral patterns and styles of thinking. 
Communication and relationship skills enhance a leader’s effective operation enabling 
him/her to establish mutual understanding between people to help them solve their tasks more 
effectively. These skills depend on leader’s using verbal (oral and written) and non-verbal 
communication (starting with visual means and on to voice tone tint and posture) to facilitate 
understanding, address to various styles of thinking and to encourage participation and effective 
work. 
The “human” aspect of communication is influenced by three parameters – physical, inner, 
and that linked with relations. At physical level, communication may be accomplished by 
patterns of “one to one”, “one to a few”, or “one to many”. Other communication variants are 
possible. In every case, such physical parameter as the number of communicating people will 
influence the type of message, and the means by which it is transmitted. A leader should bear in 
mind the physical communication parameters and use various types of message and means of 
transmission depending on situation. 
The inner parameter which influences communication process the most is a person’s state 
(both the sender and the addressee). It is at the same time a filter and an obstacle in the course of 
messages receiving and interpreting. The inner state of a person is usually a function of his/her 
attitude and style of thinking. And in this case attitude is a less permanent quantity and can 
change in the course of interaction. Often, the aim of communication is the very changing of 

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another person’s attitude. It is influenced by both mental and physical processes, and they are 
often reflected by physical indicators such as posture, gestures, or head inclination. 
Attitude and style of thinking determine the “chemistry” of interaction, namely what it will 
be like: changeable, stable, sluggish and so on. Apart from ability of understanding his/her inner 
state and governing it, for a leader it is important to take into account other people’s state. The 
parameter of the attitude of people involved in communication is connected with their roles or 
status of one concerning another, and which are determined by organizational or social 
hierarchy. The questions of status are usually of great importance, it is sometimes quite difficult 
to estimate.