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In my last blog I said that management and leadership are very different things. How so?
Manager, Leader or Both?
In my last blog I said that management and leadership are very different things. How so?
Warren Bennis is frequently quoted for his saying "Managers do things right, leaders do the right thing". In his book The Servant, James Hunter has his main character say "You manage things but you lead people". These two little bon mot to me capture the essence of the difference between managing and leading. You can't lead without people, and to quote another common phrase, "It's all about the people".
One of the problems is that we commonly use the words "management" and "leadership" almost interchangeably. In my local paper the other day there was an item about a person who had just been named to a "leadership role" in her company. When I read the item it really said she had been promoted to a management position. She may be a proven leader already or may well become one, but conferring a management title does not by definition make one a leader. Likewise, not having a title does not mean a person is not or cannot become a leader. I once knew a high ranking military officer who liked to say "Everybody knows the sergeants run the army". My guess is most of us could look at our own organizations and reach a similar conclusion. Who are the "go to" people? Who are the ones that you can count on to get things done in your work group? Who are those that strive for excellence with and among their peers, regardless of level or title? These are the people with leadership skills or potential.
If a person is individually in charge of managing the paperclip supply for an organization, having good leadership skills may not be so necessary (again, you "manage things" and focus on "doing it right"). However, if the organization is large enough to have ten people dedicated to assuring an adequate paperclip supply, then leadership skills become important (by "leading the people" and "doing the right things").
In my view, leadership is a set of skills and, like all skills, good techniques and practices can be learned. Many of us enjoy sports - softball, skiing, touch football, tennis, bowling, whatever. Or maybe it's another hobby altogether we concentrate on. Few of us will or will even aspire to become a professional in these areas. Regardless of that, we still strive to improve our skills and are very pleased when we do. It's the same thing, or should be the same thing, with our leadership skills. Few of us will or may even want to be CEOs or CIOs. But we should all want to improve our leadership skills, and those of our staff members, no matter what our levels or aspirations.
How do we do that? I'd be interested in your thoughts. I will also share some of my thoughts about basic leadership development techniques in a future blog.
Paul Williams has just retired after 40+ years in IT, although in truth much of that time was spent in EDP, MIS and IS before he became a real IT'er. Most of his career has been in IT management, where he enjoyed several stints as a CIO for different insurance companies on the West Coast. While at the same time doing some "real work" in IT, for the last five years Paul has specialized in developing and facilitating leadership programs both for his division and for the company at large. He doesn't think of himself as a technical person but rather as a business person with some technical skills.
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