If you are an effective manager, you can one day become a leader – that’s how most people think about the difference between leadership and management.
Harvard Business Review says The manager controls everything while the leader influences everyone. Who wants to be a manager – with their focus on day-to-day processes – when you can be a leader that engages stakeholders and helps determine the next direction of the business ?
However, professionals shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that leadership is the only senior job title worthy of holding. Five experts explain the key differences between leaders and managers, and offer advice to emerging professionals on how to thrive in the senior roles they take on.
Good managers should not be underestimated
While everyone remembers a great leader, Jaspreet Singh, CEO and founder of software company Druva, says it’s important not to underestimate managers – which is all too common. in modern business.
“I really feel that people have created a bad reputation for managers,” he said. “No one wants to be called a manager. Good subordinates who start a company want to be known as a leader from day one.”
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Singh says that acquiring leadership skills takes time and it involves owning something important in the company.
“In a technology environment, it can be an initiative, it can be an agenda, it can be a team. A leader takes the initiative and delivers results. The way they are Achieving that goal is all about leadership principles, which vary by environment and by Mission Ongoing.”
Singh says that managers are responsible for monitoring a set of resources effectively. In his business, management is often about making the most of human resources and cultivating a strong and purposeful team.
“The HR manager understands how to bring a team together,” he says. “How do you assemble a team, where do you hire people, what is the ideal profile, how do you activate them, how do you resolve conflicts, and how do you ensure empowering as well as educating and retraining individuals?”
Helpful managers make sure team members don’t drown
Gerardo del Guercio, solutions architect at Prostate Cancer UK, says effective management is about making sure you don’t ask everyone on your team to do something that you yourself wouldn’t do.
“If you get that respect, you make a real team and you’re not just a proxy,” he said. “As a manager, I want good people under me. I’m not intimidated by good people under me. I want to teach them.”
As an experienced manager, del Guercio enjoys applying many of the techniques he learned during his time in the tech industry.
He says that IT management often involves using similar systems from one industry to another. However, people management involves subtle variations, which depends on the context you find yourself in and the individuals you are trying to develop.
“What I like about management is building a team around the required activity. I warn my students that they will feel pressured. Sometimes they can even feel like they’re drowning. ,” said del Guercio.
“My job is to make sure they have straw underneath and make sure they bounce. If you’re not learning, you’re in the wrong place. When you stop learning, you need to keep going.”
Effective managers and leaders have important roles to play
Bev White, CEO of recruitment firm Nash Squared, says management is often concerned with deliveries, and delivery expectations are based on a common set of resources.
“When you’re a manager, you’re given a set of tools – these are the things I need to control. These are my boundaries. These are the people I need to know. I need to manage resources.”
On the other hand, White says that leadership is a whole different thing — and it focuses on the ability to inspire people far beyond what they do today.
“It’s about making people want to stay with your organization and feel really motivated and appreciated,” she says. “And it’s about understanding the group dynamics you have and what their requirements are today.”
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While White says being an effective leader often involves some common traits, she also says it’s important to recognize that the very nature of leadership will continue to evolve.
“They are multigenerational at work,” she said. “We can’t have a one-size-fits-all method of communication, and our leadership style must evolve as generations change in our workplace.”
Smart leaders establish the right culture
Ed Higgs, group director of shared IT services at Rentokil Initial, says there is a stark difference between management and leadership. One focuses on orientation while the other focuses on inspiration.
“Management is about telling people what to do and how to do it. And, in some cases, you’ll need to do it,” he said. “Leadership is about creating the right culture where people are empowered to deliver what they need to deliver.”
Higgs believes in giving as much power as possible to those in charge of business areas.
“My team makes the decisions and we take ownership of the service very seriously,” he said. “So if someone comes to me with an idea – and if they’re an allocated service owner – then I need to have a good reason not to listen to what they have to say.”
Higgs interacts with these service owners and then sells the ideas his people generate to senior stakeholders in the organization.
“For me, leadership is not about telling people what to do,” he said. “I represent 80 people on my team. I represent them when I’m on the board and decisions are made.”
Successful leaders chart the course for the future
Andy Pocock, IT director at TrustFord, said management is about taking care of existing processes while leadership focuses on setting a clear direction for the future journey.
“To put it very simply, it’s expected,” he said.
“It’s about creating a strategy, looking at and interpreting trends, and then leading people in the direction you want them to. My leadership is making sure my team can execute. long-term IT and business strategy.”
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Pocock says successful leadership in his own business often involves setting an example.
“Establishment of the right behaviors, the right attitudes, and the right approach is really setting a great example for others.”
