Leadership v.s Management: What’s the difference?

Leadership v.s Management: What’s the difference?

Be a leader, not a manager.

We might have heard this a number of times. The basic difference between a manager and a leader as stated is a leader set goals and directions and motivate its subordinates to achieve the set goals and objectives whereas a manager has people working under him and his main job involves to manage the team and get the job done.

Leadership and management may be different in terms of its definitions but it must go hand in hand to achieve the organizational goals and objectives,

A business owner must have the traits of both in order to be successful. He must be a strong leader as well as manager in order to coordinate with team and motivate them to achieve goals and objectives within set time.

Some of the key characteristics of a strong leader are as follows:

  1. Honesty and Integrity

A strong leader is the one who is honest and sincere towards his work. This characteristic helps his subordinates to believe on him and follow him to the journey he is taking them on.

  1. Vision

He is very clear in terms of the short term goals as well as long term goals to achieve. He know the current position of the organization, aware of where it has to go and coordinate with the team to achieve it.

  1. Inspiration

Motivate his team members and push their abilities to their best.

  1. Ability to challenge

Accept challenges, think out of the box and not afraid to take initiative.

  1. Communication skills

Maintain proper communication with the team members to avoid any communication gap.

And here are common characteristics shared by strong managers:

  • Strong execution skills

A manager knows how to turn an idea into reality. He creates a roadmap and assign the task to the respected team members  for its best execution.

  • Ability to direct

He analyze and evaluate the performance of the team members on the regular basis.

  • Process management

Set process and steps to follow to work effectively and efficiently.

  • People focused

Listen to team members and solve the queries if any.

In order to drive the results for the organization, you must have the traits of both. You must enroll your team members in your vision and align their objectives with the organization objectives.  You should keep motivating them and excite them for the end results. This may be the challenge to play the role of both but those who are able to do both, will create a competitive advantage.