1. Look beyond a person’s title to their sphere of influence. Some people are in leadership roles and we wonder how and why. When looking to develop leaders, look to those who demonstrate a strong set of skills in work quality, ability to get along with others at all levels, and who seem to naturally command respect. These people are frequently not obvious to managers because they don’t look for them in outside where they "expect" to discover them. As a result, those skills and talents are often greatly under utilized. These potential leaders need to be nourished because they often don’t see themselves in that role either.

2. Discover personal interests of people you are working with. Show you care about them as individuals. This does not mean being nosy but instead attentive and caring about their progress personally and professionally. Don’t just do this during a review period or when you need something. Practicing this habit is necessary all year round to develop a good relationship with those you interact with. You don’t have to be their friend, but it never hurt anybody to be friendly and to offer encouragement and a pinpointed remark to help develop good communication and camaraderie.

3. In conjunction with your employee, co-worker, or other team members, set up short-term and long-term goals you can each live with. You may not be in agreement on all points but as long as you each see benefit, then it’s easier to live with steps in between. I believe that an important element in this procedure is to act as mentors and role models for each other. That's right - each other. Leaders need to be reminded of who is accomplishing day-to-day operation of any enterprise. Provide guidelines, understanding of why something is being done in a certain way, and on-going support.

Have you ever attended a trade show or networking event and brought home a fistful of business cards, only to find that weeks later they were still in a pile on your desk? When you attend events where you regularly meet new contacts whose names you may want to keep handy, do you find that you don?t know what to do with all of them?

They seem to just keep multiplying with amazing speed, and how do you find someone's card when you need it again? And what if you can't remember name of business or person you met? In this age of Relationship Marketing, business card overload is a very common challenge for many business people.