The Big Difference Between Leaders and Managers
Leaders are a causal force — they cause things to happen that were not going to happen without their influence.
They are future oriented and they envision possibilities that are often discontinuous with the past. They are adept at innovating, articulating a vision, architecting strategies, and inspiring growth and development in others on behalf of the vision.
Leaders are rich in determination and unwavering in resourcefulness. Thus, every person in every role has the opportunity and responsibility to demonstrate leadership — to be fully engaged and to perform beyond their day-to-day management responsibilities.
Both leadership AND management are needed
Managers attend to operational excellence and, at their best, deliver against expectations. Managers provide the business and its stakeholders with reliability, certainty, and predictability, all of which are essential to the viability and longevity of the organization.
Great managers attend to continuous process improvement, monitor progress against objectives, and track and report the data that allows for solid fact-based decisions. Thus, every person in every role has management responsibility — the requirement to ensure that others can rely on them and their teams to deliver as promised within the parameters agreed.
For an organization to achieve strong results, both leadership and management need to be present. Management allows for leadership, and leadership invites development as people stretch toward the new vision and its inherent possibilities.
In most large organizations, individuals who master the management responsibilities in a given role are seen as promising candidates for the next level, especially if they begin to offer ideas and strategic suggestions beyond their area of responsibility, or if they do outstanding work on a special cross-functional task force.
However, leadership, as many find out, is not simply an advanced form of management. Often when a promotion comes, a
They are future oriented and they envision possibilities that are often discontinuous with the past. They are adept at innovating, articulating a vision, architecting strategies, and inspiring growth and development in others on behalf of the vision.
Leaders are rich in determination and unwavering in resourcefulness. Thus, every person in every role has the opportunity and responsibility to demonstrate leadership — to be fully engaged and to perform beyond their day-to-day management responsibilities.
Both leadership AND management are needed
Managers attend to operational excellence and, at their best, deliver against expectations. Managers provide the business and its stakeholders with reliability, certainty, and predictability, all of which are essential to the viability and longevity of the organization.
Great managers attend to continuous process improvement, monitor progress against objectives, and track and report the data that allows for solid fact-based decisions. Thus, every person in every role has management responsibility — the requirement to ensure that others can rely on them and their teams to deliver as promised within the parameters agreed.
For an organization to achieve strong results, both leadership and management need to be present. Management allows for leadership, and leadership invites development as people stretch toward the new vision and its inherent possibilities.
In most large organizations, individuals who master the management responsibilities in a given role are seen as promising candidates for the next level, especially if they begin to offer ideas and strategic suggestions beyond their area of responsibility, or if they do outstanding work on a special cross-functional task force.
However, leadership, as many find out, is not simply an advanced form of management. Often when a promotion comes, a