Many people often mistake management and leadership for the same thing. However, these two mean very different things. The major difference between the two is how leaders will have people follow them, whereas managers would have people simply working for them.
Leadership is focused on motivating people to understand and believe in the vision set for the organization, thus working with a leader to achieve goals. This is why taking a women leadership online course is crucial, setting you apart from being “just” a manager.
Management is more focused on administering work and making sure all daily activities are getting done according to plan. Organizations require both a strong leader and a manager for their team to be onboard towards achieving many goals, so they go hand in hand. Let’s take a closer look at the major differences between the two.
- Counting vs. Creating Value
Managers tend to count value over creating more of it. Some managers may even reduce value by disabling those who add it. For instance, if a diamond cutter must report how many stones he has cut every 20 minutes, it distracts him, thus subtracting his value.
With leaders, they would focus on creating value, generating it over and above what employees create. Instead of hovering over employees and counting how much work was done, a leader would trust that employees are doing their jobs, allowing them to focus on what they do best. Leading by enabling people and by example is crucial in action-based leadership.
- Circles of Influence vs. Power
Managers would have subordinates while leaders have followers. This means that managers would create circles of power while leaders would create circles of influence.
You can tell a manager apart from a leader (or vice versa) by counting the people outside the reporting hierarchy coming to someone for advice. More people would come to a leader for advice and insight.
- The Differences in Traits
Leaders possess key characteristics like:
- Honesty and integrity are both crucial characteristics for people to believe in you to follow the journey you are leading them to.
- Leaders know where they are and where they want to go. They can also inspire their team to act to the best of their abilities, ensuring they understand their role in reaching goals.
- Leaders can challenge the status quo, doing things differently and thinking outside the box.
- Communication skills help leaders keep their team informed of where they are and where they are heading, as well as any obstacles encountered throughout the journey.
Managers possess key skills and characteristics like:
- They can execute a vision, taking the strategic vision to break down into the roadmap the team will follow.
- They can direct, and take care of daily efforts, review resources required, and anticipate any requirements throughout the day.
- Process management skills, with the ability to establish work rules, standards, and operating procedures well.
- Managers are people-focused, looking after their people and their needs, listening to and involving them whenever possible.
Wrapping It Up
Hopefully, you learned a lot about the major differences between leadership and management from this article.
