At the beginning of the month Londoners voted in the mayoral elections in the hope of finding someone to lead them into a better way of life. Leadership is different to management and while it’s often easy to explain, it’s not so easy to practice. This is because with leadership, behaviour comes first and skills second.

Good leaders are followed mostly because people respect and trust them. Leadership relies on integrity, honesty, courage, commitment, sincerity and confidence. Some people are much more naturally able to be leaders than others, but for those that want to, they can develop their leadership ability.

It’s a great way to boost your career prospects as it shows that you have respect and are able to get things done by commanding a team.

To enhance your leadership style: be open and honest with others; communicate clearly to keep the team informed of all priorities, deadlines and goals; create an informal and approachable environment; ensure the right people are in the right roles and involve them; delegate but be aware that you are still accountable; offer recognition as formal or informal praise will help your team to grow; make decisions and stick to them as people do not feel comfortable or confident in others that change their minds.

Joanna Puczkowski is director and business coach at Horizons Regained