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In the corporate jungle there are two creatures at the top of the food chain. The Manager. And the Leader. Both are critical for business success. But they are radically different creatures in their outlook and behaviour. Because Leadership and Management involve different mind-sets, each of us will tend to have greater tendency toward one of these ways of working. The important thing to recognize is both are vital for business growth. So what are the key differences?

Managers are people who have been appointed in their position and have the power that allows them to direct and control their staff – managers are to be obeyed. Leaders, however, can emerge from within groups and inspire and influence people through their vision. A leader doesn’t have to be in a position of authority, but people may naturally follow this individual of their own choice. As such groups are often more loyal to a Leader than a Manager. The Manager rules, but the Leader is followed.

This is epitomized in the film “Brave Heart”. William Wallace, a mere clansman, leads the Scots to battle the English occupiers. Contrast this with Robert the Bruce, a Scottish Nobleman who has the authority to challenge the English. Robert the Bruce chooses to follow protocol and maintain the status quo with England – ‘doing things the right way’, yet he knows Wallace is ‘doing the right thing’.

Looking at the specific roles and behavioural traits of these creatures: Management usually consists of people who are experienced in their field, many of whom have worked their way up the corporate ladder. Managers possess good technical knowledge and understand how layers of the system work. Their main aim is to maximise organisational output through administrative implementation.

They do this by organising, planning, budgeting, staffing, evaluating, directing and controlling. Managers tend to be rational problem-solvers (focusing on goals, resources, organization structures, or people); they ask "What problems have to be solved” and “what are the best ways to achieve results so that people will continue to contribute to this organization?" They are good at providing stability, following rules, maintaining the status quo and adding order to culture.

Leaders have a strong preference for innovation; they can visualize a purpose and generate value in work; they are imaginative, passionate, non-conforming risk-takers. Leaders stand out from the crowd. They question assumption and are suspicious of tradition. A leader can be a new arrival to a company who has bold, fresh, new ideas but might not have experience or wisdom (2). On the whole leaders tend to be active since they create ideas instead of reacting to current situations; they provide a vision that alters the way people think about what is desirable, possible, and necessary. They are good at stirring people's emotions, raising their expectations, inspiring them and then leading them in new directions. A major distinction with Leadership is that, although it manifests itself in action, ultimately Leadership is a process of ‘being’, rather than ‘doing’. This determines the quality and character, which defines the performance of great leaders.

What it boils down to is that managing and leading are two different ways of organizing and motivating people. The impact this has on workplace culture and performance is markedly different.

To see whether you are a Leader or a Manager, answer True or False to the following statements:

1. I think more about immediate results than I do about mentoring others
2. It’s nice to know about people’s long-term goals, but not necessary to do the job
3. The greatest pleasure in my job comes from making the work process more effective
4. I spend more of my time and attention on the weaker performers than I do on my top performers, who basically take care of themselves
5. It’s my job to know everything that goes on in my area

Question 1.
Managers focus on the process and immediate efficiency more than leaders do. Leaders think about how they invest their time to develop the strongest talent so that those people can grow and do more and more over time. Leaders figure if they do that, those people will do a better job of watching and improving processes than they themselves will (4).

Question 2.
Someone once said that managers get “work done through people,” but leaders get “people done through work.” Since leaders need to know what makes individual people tick, they want to know long-term goals and aspirations, so they can craft ways to combine personal goals with the work at hand, or even the organization’s goals. For a given project, it may be less important to know people’s long-term goals, but for organizational success and growth, it is necessary (4).

Question 3.
This is a classic manager’s priority, deriving most pleasure from process and efficiency. Leaders enjoy that too, but they tend to enjoy most when they can help people and organizations grow (4).

Question 4.
Leaders use their time as a reward, and seek to invest their attention where it can have the most upside impact. Generally speaking, people have the most opportunity to grow and become truly great where they already demonstrate strong performance, and so leaders tend to avoid remedial projects or the constant oversight of weaker performers. Instead, they spend more of their attention on the people who are the best at what they do, since those are the people who will bring invent the greatest process and performance improvements in the future. Managers tend to focus more on problems to solve than they do on opportunities to boost people toward previously unachieved levels of excellence (4).

Question 5.
Leaders focus more on knowing the people who know what is going on, rather than on the details of everything that is going on (4).

Businesses should realize they need both good Management and great Leaders; providing efficient function and energizing relationships. Leadership risk creates opportunities whilst management discipline converts these to tangible results. Both are vital to the ecology of the business environment.

The problem is the business world is full of Managers and desperately short of people engaging in Leadership (1). The corporate structure has nurtured the Managers, and so they have become the dominant species. Leaders on the other hand, are becoming critically endangered.
This factor has a huge impact on organisational survivability. Unprecedented global market change creates volatility, requiring greater adaptability in approach to opportunities and threats.

The challenge now lies in shifting the balance for workplaces that are under-led and over-managed. There is a need to identify and nurture Leaders from within the organization. This may also take a little cross-breeding. For modern day Managers must learn to incorporate greater elements of Leadership into their managerial practice in order to inspire and influence their team. And the reverse is also true. Leaders need to support and respect the discipline of Management because ultimately Leadership is about results.

It has been shown time and again that Leaders have needed strong one-to-one relationships with teachers whose strengths lie in cultivating talent in order to reach their full potential. If you think you are a Leader, find a teacher that you admire - someone who you can connect with and who can help you develop your natural talents and interests. For there is an undeniable connection between Leadership and culture that creates sustainable peak performance and long term profitability.

Long-term survival in the corporate world needs the vision of true Leadership to provide competitive business advantage.

James Holden is the CEO of Leadership Revolution. He has a background in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Neuro-Semantics as a trainer and master coach.

1. Emmett C. Murphy and Mark. A. Murphy. ‘Leading at the Edge of Chaos’, Prentice Hall, 2003
2. Fenton, John. ‘ 101 Ways to Boost Your Business Performance’, Mandarin Business, 1990
3. Maccoby, M. ‘Understanding the Difference between Leadership and Management’. Research Technology Management; Volume 43. No. 1. Jan-Feb, 2000. pp 57-59.
4. Schuler, A. J. “Are You A Leader? Part I: The Leadership Self Test”. Schuler’s Newsletter, 2003

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