There are many articles, white papers and other information on how a manager is different than a leader. And many theories on whether someone can effectively be in both roles. Certainly there are many definitions of what a leader or manager is; but for the purposes of this brief article, let’s define leaders and managers in this way:
Leader: An individual who can see the big picture; sets the vision and mission and can get others to see and respond to that vision. An individual who can set strategy for an entire division, business unit, region or the organization as a whole. Leaders tend to be more involved in the oversight of the business overall in order to achieve long term strategic goals.
Manager: An individual can communicate a vision to others and can implement to a vision. Someone who develops an operational or tactical plan for a department, division or workgroup to achieve the goals of an overall strategic plan. Managers tend to be more involved in the day-to-day operations of the business.
Someone who is a good manager may not necessarily ever be a good leader. The skills required in management are vastly different than the skills needed to be a leader. In my work with clients I have seen some fantastic managers who don’t have what it takes to be a leader but what they can achieve for the organization due to their management (and particularly people management) skills is amazing. Frankly, I have also seen individuals who have the ability to “see the future” but are completely unable to achieve (on their own) what they need to in order to reach their goals – they need someone who is more “hands on” and tactical in order to set a plan to get there.
There are individuals who have both the skills of a leader and those of a manager and can, frankly, perform each role quite well. However, I often wonder if you can’t really excel at either if you are good at both? For those individuals who have both sets of skills, I often find that they take on much more to accomplish then, for example, someone who is in one role or the other. Thus I wonder if you are fulfilling both roles, can you truly concentrate in one or the other – or do you tend to take on too much and therefore cannot fully focus?
Your thoughts? Are you a leader? A manager? Or both? And if both, how do you manage to perform both roles effectively?
Hi Anna,
Thank you for your comment and for reading! Sometimes it is difficult for those who are more big-picture focused to develop implementation plans to move forward with putting the ideas into action. In these situations, I recommend teaming up with someone who can assist here. Too often some great ideas don’t move forward because the individual has no idea on how to implement.
Thank you again!
Best,
Gina
I am probably more of a Leader than a Manager. I can clearly see the big picture and root causes of major organizational failures. I don’t instantly blame the people, but rather determine if it’s a process, roles and responsibilities, or communication issue. Where I struggle is with translating these higher level ideas about what change is needed into how exactly it should be executed.
Glad to hear it. Been meaning to read it for a while :).
Hi Karina – great book! I loved it!
Hi Gina,
My pleasure…and you’re right about smaller organizations. The problem and potential danger there is someone trying to do too much and end up not doing anything well. I’m actually finally reading “The E-Myth Revisited” which touches on that too.
Thanks,
Karina
Hello Karina,
Thank you for reading and for your comment! You are correct that the requirements and focus are quite different. The larger the organization, the more difficult it is to focus in both areas. However, for smaller companies it is more common to see a focus in both – and wherever else is needed! – due to less resources overall.
Thank you again!
Best regards,
Gina
I think you can have the skills for both, although that’s rare, but I don’t think that you can do both well at any given time since the requirements and focus are so different.