Management Versus Leadership

Management and leadership are separate although complementary concepts. Each has its own function and characteristic activities, and both are necessary for organisational success.

In researching and writing about leaders for more than 15 years, I’m convinced we have a lot of managers and not nearly enough leaders. Managers control functions. In fact, the word “manager” comes from the Latin word manus or hand. It originally referred to the hands on the reins that held the horse. Managers control the systems and techniques that make an organisation run.

Managers are appointed. They have legitimate power that allows them to reward and punish. Their ability to influence is founded on the formal authority inherent to their positions.

Management is about coping with complexity, bringing order and consistency to a range of activities which must be co-ordinate to achieve a result – i.e. the production of goods and/or services.

Leaders! Now that’s another subject!

By contrast, leaders may be appointed, or they may emerge from within a group.

Leaders influence people and convince them to do what needs to be done. They establish direction and align people to work together. They move people to act, and inspire them with a shared decision of who they can be, and what they can do! You don’t have to be a manager to influence people!

Leadership is about coping with change, responding to the increasingly competitive and volatile environment in which organisations operate.

Positive leaders, on all levels, come from a place of service. They esteem and value others by affirming them and making them feel significant. They make the way, show the way and light the way! They believe in people and they help them grow by holding them accountable for their actions.

Larry Bossidy, CEO of Allied Signal Corporation, said, “At the end of the day, we bet on people, not strategy.”

A few years ago, Forbes magazine published a study on leaders. They found that 15% of people were considered natural-born leaders, 15% will never be leaders, and 70% can learn to lead. Yes, most leaders are made, not born, though they are seldom made as much by others as by themselves.

Both management and leadership are critical for organisations to be successful. Of course, not everyone can be good at both leading and managing. Smart organisations value the good managers and the good leaders and know they have struck gold when they have someone who is both.