Leaders and manager are different. There are plenty of quotes and sayings out there about the difference and they tend to go something like this: ‘A leader shows you the way, a manager tells you the way’. There are many, who people argue are the best, leaders. People such as Martin Luther King, Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Augustus Caesar, Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth I of England and Mahatma Gandhi. There have been so many ‘great’ leaders in our history. So what sets them apart?
One vision
Imagine you work for Boss X. Boss X sends you an email at 16.55 telling you do a task. The email goes something like this, “Can you do send the account figures by tomorrow 10 am”. When you send the figures Boss X responds, “This is not what I asked for! I’ll do it myself!”
Now imagine you work for Boss Y. Boss Y waits until the morning, comes and speaks to you. Something like this, “good morning, how are you? We have the Directors coming in this morning, a bit last minute I know, so we need to get the account figures in a presentable format”. Boss Y then goes on to explain why they want to look at the figures and what the outcome will be. When you send the figures Boss Y comes up to you and says “great job, exactly what we need”.
See the difference? Can you differentiate between the leader and the manager? Leaders are inclusive, make you feel valued and part of the team. Leaders think about how they can get others to engage and make the vision happen together. Managers get you to do tasks for their personal goal. Leaders use inclusive words like ‘us’ and ‘we’, whereas managers use personal words like ‘you’ and ‘I’.
Relationship building and trust
Using the same example, the behaviour of Boss Y will create a better relationship through communication and trust. Whereas, Boss X’s behaviour will create the opposite. Leaders are people persons. They focus on their team and stakeholders to build trust. Leaders understand what their team’s skills are and what conditions allow them to best perform. This provides consistent results. On the other hand, managers don’t do this. Managers prefer to work in isolation and communicate through email. They tell people what tasks to do in order to achieve their own personal goals.
Coaching and guidance
Your manager is usually the person you speak to if you need guidance on how to do a task or how to improve. A leader with help you in this situation and coach you through the process. A leader wants to see everyone better themselves. Managers however, are not interested in helping you. Managers are narrow minded and think that if you get better you might take their job! Whereas leaders believe that as you grow and move up the ladder, they will too!
Change and risk
Change and risk are generic areas. Leaders excel in these areas because they exhibit the right behaviours. Leaders are open to change and they advocate a culture of change within their team. Alongside change comes risk and leaders are not risk adverse. Leaders know that opportunistic change comes with risk which is not a bad thing, it’s how you handle/ mitigate the risk. Managers don’t like change or risk. Managers are not interested in improvements as they like ‘the way things are’. Fear binds them to the status quo. Leaders embrace fear and move forward.
Diversity
Anyone alive in the modern world, and not stuck in the dark ages, knows that diversity is essential part of success. Leaders know that people have difference skill sets, backgrounds, knowledge and abilities, and by knowing how to use this diversity can produce enormous results. Managers however, are stuck in ‘how they always used to do it’. Leaders know that diversity is the way forward!
Check out my blog on how project management and leadership improves a business which goes into more detail on behaviours!
Thank you for reading, JT.
How to reference this page:
- Toor, J. (2019). 5 differences between a leader and a manager. Available: https://pmgrowth.co/5-differences-between-a-leader-and-a-manager/