Differences in Leadership and Management: its more than you think!

 How are they different?

by Luke Grimes

At first glance most would think that leadership is only a quality of managers, but they are actually two different things. Management deals with enabling their team so that they can work to the best of their ability. Leadership however is more concerned with ideas and being able to connect with the group in intuitive ways. When talking about these differences' diversity and inspiration also come into play. Being a great manager means enabling the diversity in a group and allowing everyone to express themselves while leadership is more of an empathetic understanding. Leaders inspire those who are under them, but managers use incentives to motivate others.

Management vs. Leadership

Management by definition is coordination and administration of tasks to achieve a goal while leaderships is ability to influence and motivate others to work towards a common goal. Managers have the goals of the organization in mind. They are more concerned with the 'how' things are getting done and often only thing of the short-term tasks ahead. If the company is happy with their work, then the manager is happy. Leaders on the other hand find the true meaning behind what they are doing. Instead of following what the company's goals are they shape their own. 

Roles and Responsibilities

In a business setting, managers tend to not take sides in arguments. The Harvard Business Review in their article "Managers and Leaders: Are They Different?" they state, "Managers tend to adopt impersonal, if not passive, attitudes toward goals." meaning that whatever works for the task at hand works for them. Leaders play a more active role by being personal in their influence. Managers in the day-to-day operations are worried about how the tasks are done and are they done on time. Leaders make it so that their employees share the leaders' vision and make them want to do the task because they believe in it.

Importance of Diversity

Diversity however is crucial in both management and leadership. In either role valuing diversity benefits efficiency, brand reputation, and innovation. If a team is more diverse then you can reduce groupthink by allowing the employees to express their specialties as well as expanded market reach, if people know who is behind these goals, then more people are likely to resonate with it. Increased creativity because different people have different ideas and combining these ideas can give the perfect solution as opposed to a homogenous group who all think alike will not come up with as innovative ideas. As a business student it is very important to understand these differences in leadership and management and diversity because students can look into what kind of company they want to work for and evaluate whether they want to be managed or lead, work on their own or in a group, what kind of diversity or different ideas they can bring to the table. Having these insights is important in a management position to analyze the team that you are leading and make better decisions like changing the group dynamic or choosing who needs to be added or removed from a group to increase productivity. Future leaders and managers need to have an open mind because diversity causes creativity and innovation which is crucial for new successful ideas and by using these different people to teach others in the group what works.

Inspiration and Motivation

There are a couple key strategies that managers and leaders can use to provide inspiration to their team. They can engage with employees in addressing complex challenges and in their well-being at the same time. The 'Business Leadership Today' has an article called "How Good Leaders Inspire and Motivate Others" they say "It’s about creating energy around mission and vision and making it possible for people to do their jobs. Good leaders design jobs that are meaningful, make empowerment real, and insist on greater autonomy and decision-making at the right level.". They can do this by giving the employees meaningful jobs that play to the employee's strengths. If there is vision it is important that the team members see this and also believe in the visions. Great leaders will demonstrate how they are dedicated to the vision to influence those following them that the work that they are doing is valued. Leaders can also motivate employees through their well-being for example HCL implemented electronic trouble ticketing system that allows employees to emphasize what they find troubling, and the manager will fix this issue in a given time period. I can use these strategies in the future to increase performance because morale has a great influence on productivity and ensuring that my employees are in the right state of mind to do their best work.

Personal Reflection

At my current job I can easily notice how my managers apply effective leadership. I work at a company that removes old gym floors, replaces them, and designs and paints new ones. Often times these gyms are a far drive away and my manager demonstrates empathy on our drives by connecting with me on a personal and professional level which also minimizes confusion because there is ample time to discuss strategies and plans for each gym. These drives are also motivating because we become friends after talking for so long and I want to do these tasks not just because of pay but because I am helping a friend. Another time they show effective management is when the send me out on jobs by myself once I was experienced enough which empowers me because I know that they believe in my ability to get the job done. Because our group is diverse some are better at the slower paced, perfection, painting side of things and others are better at the faster paced demolition and construction side, the leaders see this and send people to places that paly to their strengths. Because they demonstrate empathy, inspiration, and diversity, the work experience is very enjoyable, and I am able to learn effective leadership strategies.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I learned that leadership is not only a quality of management but its own style. Management is more short-term goal oriented, and they focus on coordination and collaboration while leadership has more of a long-term vision-oriented tone and allows team members to express themselves with creative thoughts. Diversity in either role is beneficial to performance because different people can bring different ideas to the table and the collaboration of these ideas provides the best solution. I can apply these strategies to influence and inspire my team through self-examples and ticketing systems to ensure everyone is in the right state of mind to accomplish a task.