Invest In Loss

Management and leadership are two sides of the very same coin. They can be roles or skills taken by different people in a project, but just as equally they can be skills exhibited by a single individual. Every project needs both skill sets in order to be successful, and every project requires the right people in those roles to make the whole organisation work.

Different Approaches

The fundamental difference between the two is that you lead people, and you manage things.

Leaders direct those who look to them; leaders get people organised; and leaders supervise the people doing the work. Leadership is an inter-personal discipline with the leader often leading by example. By contrast, managers are concerned with where things are going, how we get there, and how well we’re doing at getting there, within a framework of considerations such as capability, capacity and many more. Management is a cross-discipline skill with the manager leading through others.

And that begs the question – can you be a manager without being a leader?

The Practical Blend

There are practical limits to the number of people that a single person can “lead”, even in this age of the Internet. There are only so many hours in the day, and that ultimately limits the amount of personal contact we can have with those we lead. Without that personal contact, leaders can still accrue a large following, but this comes at the cost of diluting the richness and quality of whatever activity the leader is about.

In order to scale up, leaders have to become managers too.

They have to add that extra dimension of ensuring that their vision comes to pass. They have to learn to achieve their goals through the efforts of others. Their leadership skills have to adapt to leading other leaders, starting with themselves. In return, they are able to tackle larger goals that are simply beyond the reach of small groups. They also gain a much greater chance of achieving long-term success in their ventures, because they shift from carrying the weight of the entire organisation on their shoulders to building an organisation that is more likely to be self-sustaining. In the process, they create the space necessary for others to also make a difference – and this is at the heart of the concept of being greater than the mere sum of the parts.

Which One Are You?

Whilst both management and leadership are skills that can be learned, we all have natural tendencies that bias both our competence and our comfort towards either management or leadership roles. A little pressure is a great thing; it really reveals both character and competence. Under pressure, the natural leader will most likely revert to type, as will the natural manager.

Gain self-awareness, and under pressure you will rule your actions; your actions will not rule you. And that’s the purpose behind this blog; to help you become a good manager whether or not you are a natural manager.