January 22, 2010
The Difference between being a manager and a leader
There are several key differences between being a manager and a leader. For people running their own business or acting as parts of a management structure in a larger business it is important to recognize the differences between managing and leading and use these different methods appropriately. The biggest difference between managing and leading is that managers push groups to achieve specific goals while leaders pull groups in a general direction, letting the group decide on the specific goals.
When you are managing a group you are looked at for direction and answers, you are the driving force or push behind your team. Managers are focused on individual contributions and making sure that everyone on the team is doing exactly what they need to be doing to achieve the specified goal. At critical junctures in the process the team will defer to the manager to steer them in the right direction. All major decisions are made by the manager of a team.
Leaders on the other hand let the team make their own decisions. Instead of pushing the team into specific solutions, a leader pulls the team toward the goal, letting the team figure out the best way to get there. As a leader your role is not to provide the answers but to facilitate the team in coming up with their own answers. Leaders are more concerned with the overall functioning of the team and the relations between team members then the individual tasks of each member of the team.
Clearly each of these styles has its place and it is important as a team lead to recognize when you need to manage your team and when you need to lead them. Typically as employees grow more accustomed to the business they need less management and more leading. As an employee grows comfortable with her daily tasks she no longer needs someone looking over her shoulder, however she does need someone motivating her and this is where a great leader will excel. On the other side new employees don’t need motivation and leadership as much as they need someone there telling them how to do their new job.
This is not to say that only new employees need management, or that experienced employees will always excel with great leadership. As a team lead it is up to you to figure out what the members of your team need from you, and typically this means walking a line somewhere in between managing and leading. At times it will be important to be the task master and manage the members of your team, however if you default to this mode you will stifle the creativity of your team members and will not be allowing them to achieve their best. So at time is it important to take on the role of the leader and let the team figure out the solution, again though it is important to not go too far in this direction. If left completely to their own devices employees may wind up off track or pursuing ideas that are not practical for the current situation, it is your job to step in and make sure this doesn’t happen.
I encourage you to take a look at your current management practices and skills and see where you fall, are you more of a manager or a leader, and then examine the effects this may be having on your team. Considering trying the opposite approach from how you typically interact with your team and see how they respond. It may be that some of your employees have been waiting for an opportunity to be more creative, or have needed more direction in the workplace. The important thing to remember is that, as a team lead, you need to always be monitoring your team members and tailoring your interactions with them to help them achieve their best. This is the true goal of any leader, whether she is managing or leading, she is always trying to bring out the best in those around her.
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