What differentiates a manager from a leader?
Can you be a manager and a leader at the same time? Is being a leader a guarantee of being a good manager or vice versa?
Being a great leader doesn't necessarily mean being a good manager. What makes it different?
1. The leader innovates while the manager manages
This means that the leader comes up with new ideas and mobilizes the organization in a forward thinking style. The leader has his vision on the horizon and develops new strategies and tactics to get there.
The manager keeps his attention on what has been established, and focuses on specifying and maintaining control because, otherwise, disorder could occur in the organization. He is someone who sets appropriate goals and achievements and analyzes, evaluates and interprets performance. The manager understands the people who work alongside him and knows which person is the best for each specific task.
2. The leader inspires while the manager relies on control
The leader is someone who inspires others to do their best and knows how to set the most appropriate pace and pace for the rest of the group.
Leadership is not what you do but what others do in response to you. If people decide to get on board your boat, it is because you inspire them, which means that you have created a bond of trust within the company, something that is essential when business is changing and requires people who believe in their mission and contribution..
For managers, their job is to maintain control over people by helping them develop their own roles and by using their best talents. Doing this effectively requires knowing the people you are working with and understanding their interests and passions. In this case, the manager is capable of creating a team based on a model of remuneration, position, promotion and communication with the team. Managing a project is one thing, empowering others is quite another.
3. The leader asks “what” and “why” while the manager asks “how” and “when”
When you ask "what" and "why" you make others question certain actions and - that, sometimes implies challenging superiors.
It also means knowing if you are capable of contradicting your superiors when you think you need to do something different for the good of the company. It would be about not expecting to always be right and leaving room for error.
If failures are occurring in your company, a leader's job is to say: What have we learned from this? and “how do we use this information to clarify our objectives or make them better?
Instead, managers do not think so much about the meaning of the failure but rather about questioning “how” and “when” and making sure that the planned plan is executed. They know that orders and plans are crucial and their job is to keep the vision on the current goals of the company. They function more like soldiers in the army.
Although the two roles are similar, the best managers are also leaders. And so what usually happens is that your performance (what you think, what you do and what you say) inspires others to bring out the best in themselves.
It can be both but you have to take time to cultivate it. From what you have read, what applies to your daily experience? What are you willing to start growing more, and what will you start doing for it?
