Leader, Manager, or Both?
“Leaders must be good managers but most managers are not necessarily good leaders”
Tom Mullins
Are managers leaders? Are leaders managers? Should they be both?
I think that leadership and management are two entirely separate dimensions. Leadership is a mindset whereas management is a process. A truly effective leader will be skilled in both dimensions and know when and how to exercise them. Managers who perform at their best combine both dimensions as well.
A leader without management skills will never translate their vision to action, and managers without leadership will never achieve their potential. Leaders and managers need to be both.
A recent conversation centered on the dissatisfaction with the elected government in not taking a leadership approach and establishing a clear vision and strategy for the future. The elected government - despite having a majority mandate - simply made decisions based on responding and reacting to public sentiment and opinion. The bureaucratic function of government can then not take a leadership approach and ends up simply managing processes to meet current demands. What happens in this environment? We all lose - the bureaucrats can't be as effective as possible as there is no long term direction to manage to, the public do not achieve the direction for change they need to meet future needs, and the elected government gets relegated to the "same old, same old" bin.
Leadership and management need to co-exist for the achiever to be most effective. The first step is to clarify the two dimensions.
Leadership is more about the future than today, more about people than projects, more about movement than maintenance, more about intuition than formula, more about vision than procedure, more about risk than caution, more about action than reaction, more about relationships than rules, and more about who you are than what you do.
Leaders see within the larger context. Effective leaders know the answers to the following questions:
- How do I fit in my area or department?
- How do all the departments fit into the organization?
- Where does our organization fit in the market?
- How is our market related to other industries and the economy?
Leaders push boundaries. Leaders put the emphasis on intangibles. Leaders invest power in others. Leaders see themselves as agents of change.
Management is a focus is on today and making actions happen. Management is more about administering than innovation, more about focus on systems and structure than people, more about a short range view than a long range perspective, more about asking how and when rather than what and why, more about keeping your eye on the bottom line than the horizon, more about keeping the status quo than challenging it, more about doing things right than doing the right things.
Managers focus on producing results and efficiently as possible. Managers put a plan to the vision and translate potential to performance. Effective managers are focused on outcomes and know the answers to the following questions:
- What outcome do I want to achieve from this situation?
- What outcome does the other person expect from this situation?
- What are the minimum number of steps required to get there?
- What are the consequences of this course of action?
Where leaders define the agenda, managers in one way or another, support other people's agendas. Managers seek to clarify and focus on what is important, what is urgent, and what is actionable.
The challenge of achieving success is being able to balance the need for leadership with the need for management. To be the most effective leader, a clear vision of future needs to be clarified to outline the direction and the possibility. From there, an effective leader needs to add management to be able to plan the steps to achieve the vision and resolve the challenges to make the future happen.
When we are too focused on managing, the entire workforce becomes mired in today. No one can take initiative because the future is not clear. Being too focused on leadership means we may tire and frustrate the workforce from lack of realistic understanding of what needs to happen to make the plan work. We see where we are going but have no idea how to get there - the end result is frustration and disillusionment.
Manager has sadly become a job title and should be changed so we develop the right approach that combines leadership and management. Recent studies point to the "manager" position as being increasingly ineffective ... maybe it is because of the title. With the right approach combining leadership (vision, possibility, and people) with management (plan, performance, and results), "managers" would gain the direction and training they need to be successful.
The key to achieving our greatest success is to use our whole brain - bringing in the right and the left to provide the people around us with what we need to be inspired in the future and confident in getting there.
Executives, entrepreneurs, and professionals that are most effective at producing results seek education and training combined - how to see tomorrow and how to arrange today to get there.
Leadership alone is not enough. Management by itself will not take you there. Leadership and management together are the winning combination. A leadership mindset coupled with a management process makes things happen.
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Leader, Manager, or Both?
