A short comment on management and leadership

In my opinion, what distinguishes a manager from an exceptional leader?

Leadership vs. Management. These are two very confusing terms, with overlaps but differences. Drucker warns about it in a famous quote: Leadership is doing the right things; management is doing things right.

By definition, leadership is the process of influencing a group of individuals towards a goal. A manager (who operates through planning, budgeting, staffing, problem-solving, and controlling) is not always a leader, and a leader is definitely not always a manager. In this topic, Bennis (1994), identify - dramatically - several differences between management and leadership:

• Management is about promoting change; leadership instead, is about designing change.

• Management is about organizing people; leadership is about inspiring them.

• Management is about how to consolidate and build. Leadership is about how to innovate and create.

• Management deals with plan and budget; leadership deals with strategy and vision.

• Management aims to effective action; leadership aims to meaningful action.

• Questions for management are how, Who, When? While questions for leadership are why, what, what if?

• Management is all about doing things right, while leadership is about doing the right things.

In summary, even though you can use the terms “management” and “leadership” interchangeably in the real world, management and leadership are different concepts. You can say that a manager says “go”, while a leader says “let’s go”, to conclude that being a good manager doesn’t mean automatically that the good manager can be a good leader. For example, one responsibility of a manager is controlling a group in order to accomplish a certain goal. Leadership, instead, is the ability of an individual to motivate, influence, and enable others to make a contribution to the success of an organization. Leaders create and change cultures, while managers live within them (Schein, quoted by UNITAR, 2020).

Inspiration and influence separate leaders from managers (who organize, operating on the levels of control and power). Managers focus on tasks and projects while leaders focus on people. Managers direct, instruct, and control subordinates; leaders inspire, motivate, and build strong teams. Finally, managers hold a pre-assigned position. Instead, leaders hold a well-earned position. Of course, leadership and management are not genetic dispositions but abilities you can learn and master, and when you find both in the same person, much better (UNITAR, 2020).

Of course, there is a fundamental overlap between leadership and management, in the sense that good leadership always includes responsibility for managing, but not the opposite. Leadership is usually a bigger responsibility than management, and leadership includes the responsibility for the management of the group or situation, which is typically mostly by delegation to others (Scouller, n.d.; Germond, 2019). 

Leaders and managers confluence each other into accomplishing a goal, mobilizing resources, and explaining the vision, but leaders focus on goals, while managers focus on tasks (Ho, 2020). That is why you must see these roles as equally important, complementary, and even synergic, especially because a good manager must have the ability to execute a leader’s vision (Dutta, 2020).

That is not a new idea. Back in 1977, Zaleznik wrote that the difference between managers and leaders lies in the conceptions they hold of chaos and order. Managers embrace the process, seek stability and control, and instinctively try to resolve problems quickly (sometimes before they fully understand a problem significance). Leaders, on the contrary, tolerate chaos and lack of structure and are willing to delay closure in order to understand better the issues. In plain words, leaders have much more in common with artists, scientists, and other creative thinkers than they do with managers (Zaleznik, 2004). 

Thinking about it, in a time when managerial development focused exclusively on building competence, control, and balance of power looks very insightful to me. 

Obviously, if you think in detail about that comparison, at first sight, the picture of the manager isn't very flattering, and the image of the leader is simply heroic; but the two labels aren't mutually exclusive, and much less incompatible, because their characteristics have different implications and meanings. Management deals with achieving results with effectiveness, and looks for the predictability. Leadership is all about vision, dealing with the future, and its key concept is creativity and therefore, innovation (Kotter, 2013).

We can ponder about that, simply analyzing how our political leaders and their teams have dealt with the COVID-19 threat. You can conclude that leadership and management are equally important, but their scope of action is certainly different. That is the point: they are not the same, but they are certainly needed at some point. That's why we need to develop both aspects - ideally, in a similar way - if we want to achieve excellence in the role that we need to address (acting as a manager, or being a leader).

Getting deeper into it, I found that managers "tell" while leaders "sell"; managers plan the details while leaders set the direction; managers minimize risks while leaders take risks; managers instruct employees while leaders encourage people; managers have objectives while leaders have a vision; managers meet expectations while leaders chart new growth; managers have their eyes to the bottom line while leaders have theirs in the horizon; managers accept the status quo while leaders challenge it; managers see a problem when leaders see an opportunity (Ho, 2020), and so many differences that put us to think that maybe leadership is an art (which is, basically, an ability - with no doubt, some degree of innate talent - that can be mastered for all at acceptable levels), while management can be seen as a sort of tedious (but learnable, and essential) activity. 

Interesting, don't you think? 

In summary: leadership and management are entirely different concepts but closely related as well. Everyone at some point needs to act, as a leader, and also as a manager. So, in order to succeed, you need to understand their different scopes, thinking about overcoming weaknesses and boosting strengths of each role, because managing and leading are two different ways (one, using a formal and rational method, and the other, using passion and emotion) of organizing people as a human resource, talent, and therefore, the main (and intangible) capital of every organization.

Reliability and organization are desired qualities of good managers, but you need to seriously keep an eye to their natural tendency to nearsightedness and resistance to change. On the side of leaders, consider inspiration and innovation as their main strengths, but don't forget that they tend to underestimate risks, and to be emotionally attached to their projects, i.e., to be subjective (9Lenses, n.d.).

In other words: you cannot act as a manager without being acting to some degree, as a leader. And of course, a leader without managerial skills at the end is very limited and even unable to show tangible results.

Sources:

(n.d.) Leadership vs. management - Strengths, and weaknesses. 9Lenses. Retrieved from: https://www.9lenses.com/leadership-vs-management-strengths-weaknesses/

Bennis, W. G. (1994). On becoming a leader. Addison – Wesley, New York. 

Dutta, S. (2020, March 1). Leadership vs management characteristics. LinkedIn. Retrieved from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-vs-management-characteristics-snehesh-dutta/?articleId=6639749775191314432

Germond, R. (2019, December 2). Leadership vs. management: 5 differences that set them apart. The Digital Project Manager. Retrieved from: https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/leadership-vs-management/ 

Ho, L. (2020, July 21). Leadership vs management: is one better than the other? Lifehack. Retrieved from: https://www.lifehack.org/674254/leadership-vs-management-is-one-better-than-the-other

Kotter, J. (2013, January 9). Management is (still) not leadership. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2013/01/management-is-still-not-leadership

Scouler (n.d.). Explanation and examples of differences – Leadership and management. Businessballs. Retrieved from: https://www.businessballs.com/leadership-styles/leadership-vs-management/

UNITAR (2020). Unit 1. Introduction to leadership (Course material). Leadership in the public sector (MOOC Course). 

Zaleznik, A. (2004, January). Managers and leaders: are they different? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2004/01/managers-and-leaders-are-they-different