Leaders and managers are both critical components to a well functioning organization. However there is a difference between the two. Hopefully, managers are good leaders, too. All too often managers don’t bother to inspire others to follow their vision. Instead they focus on the time-clock.
@lollydaskal (Lolly Daskal) wrote this post about Leaders vs. Managers. She lists 19 differences like:
- Leaders lead people. Managers manage people – sounds simple, but often missed by upper management
- Leaders inspire. Managers comfort – And bad managers often discourage team members with inconsistency
- Leaders have followers. Managers have subordinates – there is nothing more discouraging than managers with titles demanding strict adherence to a hierarchical structure. This also limits organic growth by limiting good ideas from floating up.
She clearly understands the difference. I find that the best practices of leadership are well known and yet not frequently practiced or expected. Too bad, but hopefully we are near the tipping point. I think Gen X and Millennials are different leaders and have different expectations. Therefore, things will change eventually.
I found the Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner @KouzesPosner to be a terrific edition to anyone’s library of reference books on leadership. The world is full of managers that are incompetent at best and at worst discouraging. Their own fear and paranoia helped them reach their position, but they quickly find themselves over their heads because they lack the ability to trust those around them. The Leadership Challenge points out the basic traits that any team looks for in a leader. And, in all of their research around the globe honesty is at the top of the list.
