The power of motivation is often either underestimated or brushed aside by some. People fail to realize that motivating someone in any arena of life only cultivates more force in generating positive feelings. To pat someone on the back, to congratulate someone when the going gets great or to vouch for someone during his peak form is a mere reinforcement of your support to him. However, the real use of motivation comes in when the chips are down; when nothing seems to work and when someone is under pressure to perform.

When the going gets tough, all that one needs is someone to put an arm around the shoulder, reaffirm the faith and ignore a few mistakes. On the contrary, most people go wrong in this context and run out of patience. They create an atmosphere of extreme pressure and instead of creating scope for come back, they pull the person deeper into stress and kill performance totally. This is in turn results in loss of love, understanding and results.

Think about it - how do you handle a situation at work/home when someone makes a few mistakes and perhaps repeats them? You run out of patience and let all hell break loose and go on an emotional and moral rampage destroying a person's confidence and make him feel like an idiot.

Look around at the most successful leaders from any walk of life. Their success is not a result of their individual brilliance; it is because of their ability to bring the best out of others in all circumstances, especially when the going gets tough. It is their ability to stand by a person in bad times, assure support and express faith which eventually wins the day for them.

The person receiving support during such times will obviously bounce back and when he does, he will always remain obliged to you. He would want to perform more for you than for himself. He would feel so obliged that he will always have you in mind before he goes out there to perform again. In simple words, your ability to handle a person with care in tough times will not only help the person, it will also get results and create a great work atmosphere.

Leadership is never easy, and great leaders are not born every day. However, we can always pick up a few magical tips and get the best out of others and ourselves.