Leading and managing | 165
LEADING ANDMANAGING
‘The men of Issachar understood the timesand knew what Israel should do.’
1 Chronicles 12:32
Just as workplace fashions and ofce technology havechanged over the decades, so to have management styles.The leader as authority gure that the Boomers rst expe-rienced had shifted by the time Generation X enteredthe workplace. The 1980s ushered in author and manage-ment expert Ken Blanchard’s ‘situational leader’ who wouldrespond to the team and the situation. The shift from leader as commander to leader as collaborator gained momentumin the 1990s as author and psychologist Daniel Golemandeveloped his EQ (emotional intelligence quotient) tools.Managers recognised that staff did not respond to a whollypositional leader, but to a relational one. And so the shiftfrom leadership selection based on IQ (intelligence quo-tient) to EQ began. This was a time of change from the out-come-driven, authoritarian manager to the team-focused,authentic leader.This momentum has grown as the Gen Y-ers have joinedthe workforce. Such an empowered, options-rich generationare inspired by leaders who consult, involve and coach, notby managers who dictate and delegate from afar.
The difference between leadersand managers
Indeed, an interesting trend in management literature hasbeen the redened categories of leader and manager. Thereare some big differences between the archetypal process-driven manager and iconic visionary leader. The
Oxford Dictionary
denes a manager as: ‘A person controlling or administering a business.’
1
A leader is dened as: ‘A personwho causes others to go with him[/her], by guiding andshowing the way; guides by persuasion and argument.’
2
Some of the great thinkers and writers on leadership addclarity to the discussion:
Lead
is from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning a road, a way,a path. It’s knowing what the next step is. Managing is fromthe Latin, ‘manus’, a hand. It’s about handling, and is closelylinked with the idea of machines and came to prominencein the 19th century, as engineers and accountants emergedto run what had previously been entrepreneurial businesses.Managers can be appointed; leaders must be ratied in thehearts and the minds of those who work for them.
John Adair, author of books on business leadership
As do practitioners:
Leadership is often confused with management. As I see it,leadership revolves around vision, ideas, direction, and hasmore to do with inspiring people as to direction and goalsthan with day-to-day implementation. One can’t lead unlessone can leverage more than his own capabilities. You haveto be capable of inspiring other people to do things withoutactually sitting on top of them with a checklist.
John Sculley, partner in Sculley Brothers and former CEO of Apple
8
166 | The ABC of XYZLeading and managing | 167
Here’s a snapshot summary of the differences between man-agers and leaders taken from our research and reviews:
Table 8.1 Managers versus leaders
Managers Leaders
AdministrativeInnovateFocus on policies &proceduresFocus on people &teamsIQ & technical skillsEQ & people skillsSystems structuredVision drivenRules basedValues basedControlTrustShort termLong termProvide answersAsk big questionsWho & whenWhy & howBottom lineTriple bottom lineRecruitTrainPositionalRelationalAcceptChallengeDo things rightDo the right things
The biggest difference is not one of practice but priorities.Leaders and managers often have the same responsibilities,but very different starting points.
Meaning > Mission (Why)Team > Task (What)Relational > Positional (How)
When it comes to one’s raison d’être – the ‘why’ of therole – the differences between the two become clear. Themanager starts with the mission: ‘Give me a mission and Iwill achieve my reason for being by its accomplishment’.Ever ‘on task’, the manager achieves meaning by doing.The leader, however, takes a few steps back from themission or task and asks some meaning or purpose ques-tions: ‘Why do we as an organisation exist? Who are our customers and our stakeholders? How can we make a dif-ference for all our stakeholders?’ In other words, the leadersdon’t jump straight in to answering questions – rst theyask a few. Leaders focus on the big picture and the longterm, not just the immediate and the urgent. Let’s be clear:leaders get to the mission and the task – it is just that theydon’t start there.It is similar when it comes to the ‘what we do’. Man-agers begin with the task – and will even recruit the teambased on the task. They are truly task-driven compared tothe leader who is people-centred. To the leader, task mat-ters – but it is accomplished with the team rather thanthrough the team. Leaders talk ‘people’ and ‘teams’ rather than ‘human resources’ and ‘talent’. With a long-term viewof their role, they train and inspire their people to achieveand accomplish tasks rst. It is easy to spot the differences inan outdoor ‘team-building’ task. When approaching a newscenario, the managers look at the equipment and countthe ropes and planks, while the leaders gather the team in ahuddle to gauge morale and discover specialist skills.And how do they do it? Leaders rely on their relationalskills, not positional ranks, as today people respond better to emotional rather than rational appeals. Highlighting this,scientists have been tracking climate change for the last 20 years, yet it has only been in the last 20 months that theclimate-change message has got traction in the community.One reason for this is that while ever the message was arational, statistical one, it remained limited to the scientic
Search History:
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
p.
Leading and Managing: McCrindle Research
The ABC of XYZ gives insights and practical strategies to help parents, teachers and managers bridge the gaps and engage with each generation. However, this book is more than a research-based reference work or valuable 'how…
(More)
374
Reads
0
Readcasts
1.9K
Embed Views
Recommended
More From This User
Notes
Load more
