If you take 20 really good leaders and evaluate their life, work and methods, you will be surprised to know just how much they have in common. All leaders have a set of duplicatable values and practices that we can learn from.

Discipline, people skills, compassion, proactive thinking and initiative are just a few, but what I really want to talk about today is a leader's ability to communicate his or her heart. The things that a leader communicates to his or her team, followers and other leaders will make or break the leader.

As a church leader, I have communicated a lot of terrible messages to people who follow me, but through the years I have learned to effectively communicate certain values that build up my teams and bring about positive results. Here are seven things that leaders, most especially church leaders, must always communicate to others.

"I was wrong."

A transparent leader is a trusted leader. When leaders try to exude a macho air that tries to convince people that they make no mistakes, people don't buy it because everyone knows that no one is perfect.

"Good job."

The leader is always the first one to motivate and hype up a group. When honor is due, honor must be given. One of the most rewarding tasks a leader can carry out is to reward his or her staff and team members.

"Here's how to improve."

While it's good to encourage, it's equally important that leaders help their followers improve. Rebuke and correction are not the job of secretaries. They must be done by leaders.

"I appreciate you."

What can best demotivate teams is if they are deceived into thinking that leaders don't appreciate their work. What's sad is that some people don't have to be deceived into thinking that because some leaders truly don't appreciate their teams enough. Remember that having followers is a privilege that you do not deserve but one that was graciously given still.

"Please pray for me."

An effective leader will get his followers to war against principalities with him. A leader can never stand on his or her own, most especially in spiritual battle. Get your teams to intercede with and for you.

"What do you think?"

A leader's ideas are not entirely what run an organization. Effective leaders will get his or her teams involved in the ideation process. However, the leader is responsible for also filtering out ideas that do not help accomplish the overall mission.

"What does the Bible say?"

The true authority in any group is the spoken word of God. A leader who cannot refer back to biblical principles will probably make more mistakes than others. Equally important is for leaders to actually know what the Bible says, and that comes only by hearing and doing God's word.