Difference between Leadership and Management
The last quote in the list above is my personal favourite. There is a significant difference between being a great manager and a great leader. There’s a requirement to have both management skills and leadership skills. It’s just that they both have a different focus. Leaders need an extra component: inspiration.
Of the leadership definitions we found, a full third of them place significant weight on inspiring others to follow a particular course. The manager has authority, but the leader makes those under them want to work towards a shared goal.
On a practical front, management is about following, as successfully as possible, a set of agreed and proven processes and procedures.
Leadership is about encouraging and supporting others to achieve their best. Even Elon Musk, one of the more eccentric CEOs on the above list, expresses this opinion when he says that a leader must “serve their people.”
What makes a Great Leader?
Looking at our inspiring leaders and what they say about their own leadership, can we pull together some conclusions? There seems to be a consistent set of skills that leaders possess.
Qualities such as:
1: Identifying and Directing Talent
One of the commonest themes is that leadership is the tendency to surround yourself with the right people. This is a compound skill including the ability to spot potential, both inside and outside the company. It also involves being able to inspire and direct talented people and empower them to achieve all that they can, benefiting both them and the company. One of the key skills to nurture talent is coaching.
2: Singular Vision
Being brave and bold in envisaging what the company might become is a vital component of leadership. Having a clear vision for the direction the company takes is another popular theme with successful leaders.
Sometimes this leads the company in an unexpected and, at first, perplexing direction. When coffee machine vendor Howard Schultz decided to demonstrate his products in action with a European-styled coffee house, the Starbucks we know and love today was born.
3: Empathy and Compassion
Today, popular leaders are empathic ones. Gone are the days of tyrants frightening employees into submission (though there may still be some bad managers adopting this approach). Leaders who pay at least some attention to what employees want and the direction they prefer for the company tend to prove more successful. Emotional intelligence is a vital skill for the modern-day leader. Test your EQ skills here with a free assessment.
4: Ability to Make Challenging Decisions
One of the downsides of leadership is the need to make difficult decisions. Decisions such as closing a branch, stopping a product line, pivoting away from the company’s original vision or which staff you need to let go. There may be times where unpopular decisions are the only way to make sure the business succeeds.
Leaders are those who step into the fray in times of crisis, rather than shy away from making a move which may prove unpopular.
5: Integrity
Employees and other stakeholders consider it important that their leaders have integrity. A 2019 German study found a 65% correlation between employees believing their leaders will do the right thing in an ethical crisis and overall trust in the company. Trust builds a desire to work hard and perform well.
Being a leader noted for integrity makes it easier to attract talented people to your side. It also allows you to legitimately lead by example and ensure that those working under you are people of integrity too.
Different Leadership Styles & Models
Given how many different aspects of leadership are considered important, it’ll probably come as no surprise that there are a host of different leadership styles and models, each emphasizing a slightly different mix of skills and abilities.
Here are just some of the other ways theorists have tried to understand leadership.
Situational Leadership Model
Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model, developed in the 1970s, stated that no single style of leadership will suit all situations. In Hersey and Blanchard’s model, some circumstances might favour a more dictatorial approach, whereas others might require more collaboration and empathy.
The researchers split leadership styles into four broad modes:
• Delegating – taking a very hands-off approach.
• Participating – working alongside a team to inspire them.
• Selling – persuading a team to work on your idea.
• Telling – fully directing the actions of employees.
A leader might most frequently follow a participatory approach but shift to a telling mode when there’s a crisis that needs speedy action (say, a hostile takeover attempt).
Replies to This Discussion