Successful leaders understand the difference between managing and leading. They know how they work with their teams can be tremendously empowering or devastatingly demoralizing.
Much has been written about the difference between leading and managing. I won’t rehash the breadth of content here, focusing instead on the key differences and similarities in support of upcoming blog posts where the distinction is important. Let’s begin with the key difference.
- Managers oversee and supervise the execution of work, directing teams to complete a coherent set of tasks to achieve outcomes and goals.
- Leaders define the outcomes and goals through a strategy designed to achieve a vision.
Of course, these aren’t hard lines never to be breached, but rather statements about a person’s predominant responsibilities. For example, during a crisis a leader may need to be deeply involved to rapidly resolve the problem, directing specific activities and managing tasks to completion. Alternatively, long tenured managers may have important insights that help shape strategy. Oversimplifying, managers live most of their time in the now and immediate future while leaders live the majority of their time in the immediate and distant futures.
Why does this matter? Because when the following shared responsibilities are added into the mix, lines can blur. Managers and leaders perform these activities, but at different levels:
- coach and mentor associates
- define standards and practices for teams’ work
- mitigate risks and resolve issues
- communicate and inspire
- develop internal and external partnerships
- influence others to gain alignment
- manage financials
- and other common actions required to complete work
Personal preferences and interests further muddy the distinction, in practice. Regardless of the documented responsibilities that may exist, if a person is interested in something different, she will be drawn to those activities. For example, most of us likely have worked with a leader we considered to be a micromanager. Perhaps she regularly overstepped, directing the team’s day-to-day work or supervising work at an unbearable level. Or a manager who did not adequately resolve issues the team faced as he worked on special projects important to his leader. Before applying for leader positions, it’s important to consider how you like to spend your time, as described in my post, Are you ready to be a leader? Are you sure you want to be one? Doing what we enjoy and what interests us is important for our happiness at work as well as our health. If you are interested in performing the work, shaping day-to-day efforts, or live for the details, you may be much happier as an individual contributor or manager.
Good leaders make it clear when they are acting in manager mode and why. And they only do it when absolutely necessary.
For many, the move from manager to leader is the second most difficult career change in the corporate world. The first is from individual contributor to manager. The difficulty in moving from individual contributor to manager is giving up what you do well yourself to guide others in doing it. You must learn to let go and allow the team to do the work; your job as a manager is to provide daily direction for performing work to achieve the goals and outcomes in alignment with the organization’s strategy.
That next step isn’t quite as large when moving from manager to leader as, over time, good managers learn to step up and back from performing the work but can still be very difficult. New and experienced leaders alike often struggle with establishing an organization’s vision, defining clear goals and outcomes, and constructing an actionable strategy, one that doesn’t become shelfware. That may be for a company overall (CEO and other CXO leaders) or at other levels of the organization (Vice Presidents, Associate Vice Presidents, Directors) where your local strategy and vision (those specific to your direct organization) need to link to those of the overall enterprise.
Companies need both, managers to direct daily work in alignment with the mission, vision and strategy and leaders to establish to the mission, vision, and strategy. Each requires different skills, competencies, and focus. Successful leaders understand the difference between managing and leading, acting within their roles to empower their teams to achieve remarkable results.
Share your thoughts below.
As a leader, how do you spend the majority of your time? Do you find it easy or difficult to maintain balance between leading and managing?
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