Newsletter - January 2009
Leading vs. Managing: Why Differentiate the Two?
January 8, 2009 - Lateyfa Ali
Management is different from leadership, but what are the differences? The first step in answering this question is to understand what organizations need from people in leadership and management positions. Organizations need to survive profitably. They need to be competitive and must grow their relevance by effectively responding to or creating customer need. Taking care of current needs and shaping the future of the organization are both crucial to survival. So who is likely to take care of the immediate needs of the organization and who is more likely to shape how the organization will evolve?
Managers and their teams organize and execute the projects and tasks needed by the business. Managers accomplish this by using core competencies such as structuring and monitoring work, managing change, goal and performance management, conflict management, interpersonal skills, team-building and communication skills. The goal of managers is to use organizational resources in such a way that the organization (and its stakeholders) achieves or benefit from the desired results. Whatever the drivers: profitability, sales, innovation, or production, managers have to spend a great deal of their energy (and use their competencies) marshalling resources to get things done.
Managers work hard to bring the right mix of talent and skills together and use a variety of business and emotional tools and techniques to make talent work right. Given the complexities of today’s business environment, managers face tremendous challenges managing the diversity of people and organizational needs efficiently. Organizations need managers to help people stay motivated and vested in the direction of the organization. They need managers to create a climate of inclusion and to understand and leverage the strengths and different talents of people to accomplish the mission.
Organizations require different things from leaders. Organizations need leaders to pursue the vision and use their skills to strategize, influence, persuade, and create followership toward a common goal or purpose. Leaders don’t necessarily always have the answer, but they engage in dialogue and thinking about the risks and opportunities for the organization. Decisions are often made about the current and future state of the organization based on the outcomes of those discussions and thoughts. Leaders are critical in shaping and communicating the shared values and the culture of the organization.
Organizations need leaders who are attuned to their environment (competition, stakeholders, community, etc.) and who create a dynamic relational process involving all aspects and all stakeholders. Leaders induce groups to take the actions that manager and their teams will ultimately carry out. Leadership can be direct (based on organizational hierarchy and position) or indirect, based on functional or technical expertise used to influence the direction of the company. Since today’s business climate often resembles guerilla warfare, organizations need leaders who can promote a new direction on all fronts, something that suggests that leadership should come from all areas and levels, not just top down from the CEO.
Considering that all organizations have two fundamentally different goals: to execute today's business as efficiently as possible, and to devise new directions for future success, it is understandable that there be a distinction between leading and managing and that those who hold these positions in the organization understand how, when, where and why these differences should be used.
Equally important for organization is to build the bench strength and create pipelines of managers and leaders for continuity and ongoing organization success. Evaluating leadership and managerial skills against the needs of the organization now and in the future is something all organizations can undertake to create those pipelines and help prepare individuals for the new challenges of managerial and leadership responsibilities.
Lateyfa Ali is president and general manager of OI Partners - E.K. Ward & Associates (New York), a human resource consulting firm specializing in supporting effective leadership practices, alignment, development and assessment. She can be reached at 716-626-1188.