LEADERSHIP

There is a large difference between managers and leaders.

At a fundamental level, managers will tell you that they plan, organize, coordinate and control. These four words have dominated management vocabulary since the French industrialist Henri Fayol first introduced them in 1916. Managers’ goals arise out of necessity rather than desires. They excel at diffusing conflict between individuals or departments, placating all sides while ensuring that an organization’s day to day business gets done.

Leaders, on the other hand, adopt personal active attitudes toward growth. They look for potential opportunities and rewards that lie around the corner, inspiring subordinates and firing up the creative process with their own energy. Their relationships with employees and coworkers are intense, and their working environment is often, consequently chaotic.

Good management brings a degree of order and consistency. Leadership, by contrast, is about coping with change.

Consider how each would accomplish similar tasks:

Companies manage complexity first by planning and budgeting.
Leading an organization to constructive change begins by setting a direction.

Management develops the capacity to achieve it plan by organizing and staffing.
Leaders align people.

Management ensures plan accomplishment by controlling and problem solving.
For leadership, achieving a vision requires motivating and inspiring.

Leadership complements management – it does not replace it. Leadership with weak management can actually be worse than the reverse.

Alignment