It is not always easy with people. On the other hand, this also means that you will never be bored. Leadership is a skill that is being honed every day. There will be new employees and new colleagues in your life. Remember that people cannot be pushed too far; however, they can be pulled a long way.
Your role as a leader is to pull them with your vision. People are unique and you as a manager always have to find out what motivates them. Only then will you succeed in blending their individual skills and potential into one fantastic team. An article on the management.about.com website offers some tips on what to be prepared for when you have some direct subordinates.
People can be awkward
From time to time they get angry; they cry or shout and sometimes everything irritates them. So you can never be 100% sure about what sort of reaction you are going to get: unpredictability is part of human nature. People are also selfish: they know that no one else is as deeply concerned about their welfare as they themselves. They do what they think is in their best interests. They want to get their perceived fair share first. Once they get it, they will help others to get ahead too.
With people, things are unstable
People are volatile and unsettled. What they were willing to accept last week may no longer apply, without there being any obvious explanation for the change. People's lives change and thus so do the people themselves. At the same time their motivations can quickly change as well: something that mattered to them yesterday may today remain unnoticed or ignored. This is what makes motivation of employees so tricky.
People have fears and worries
Everyone is afraid of something, although it is true that some people are good at hiding their fears. Some worries are common to many people: for instance, no one likes to look stupid in front of others and many people are worried about what they would do if they lost their job. You need to address the fears of your staff in order to make it possible for them to focus on their job rather than what is worrying them.
-jk-