We’re often asked if being a Manager is the same thing as being a Leader. It’s an interesting question! Let’s explore the key differences in leader vs manager roles.
Picture the scene. Jane has been with her company for two years. She’s great at what she does, her customers love her and her colleagues have huge respect for her.
When an opening becomes available, Jane is the obvious choice for the promotion. She’s the perfect candidate for the job and easily slips in to her new role, fully embracing her next challenge.
Sound a little too straightforward? That’s because it usually is.
Great at the job – or great at managing people?
Often, companies promote people to managerial positions because they’re great at their existing job. Of course, this is pretty crucial when it comes to climbing the career ladder. Many internal promotions fail because employers suddenly assign individuals a new role. In this role, they’re managing people for the first time. There’s an expectation that they also know how to lead a team.
More often than not, the newly promoted employees don’t have the leadership skills required for a management role. Therefore, what they actually do is continue with the day-to-day elements of their job that they are familiar and confident with. They simply treat the new, crucial elements of their role as an “add on”, resulting in them being completely overlooked. Employers may quickly feel disappointed, perceiving underperformance, while employees experience stress, feeling thrown in at the deep end. In short, they have been left to rely on their existing skills with no real career development.
So how does management and leadership differ?
Management is, in essence, the use of resources to achieve results through the efforts of another person. It’s delegation at it’s finest, and is a means to get the job done. If a Manager is simply managing a process, it’s an effective way of working. However, if they’re managing people, they also need to demonstrate the traits of a leader. Understanding the dynamics of leader vs manager is crucial in creating a balanced and effective team.
So how that might look?
Organising a team or department, a manager focuses on structure, while a leader aims to motivate and enhance performance.
Adapting to change, a manager adjusts, whereas a leader takes proactive steps to make change happen, setting an example and guiding their team.
Following procedure is a manager’s role, yet a leader goes beyond by setting the pace and casting a vision for the team to follow.
These are just a few examples from a long list to demonstrated that management is functional – whereas leadership required far more.
How can a business help a great manager become a great leader
In addition to great management skills, a fantastic leader has many qualities, including charisma, great communications, consistency and fairness. Some of these characteristics are innate – but others need to be taught. Businesses need to support their management team with regular training and coaching, to enable them to reach their full potential. Ultimately, this will improve the capability and behaviours of leaders to get the most out of their team. It’s really very simple but it’s an area that many businesses overlook.
In conclusion
Every business needed leaders to inspire the team and drive the organisation to not only succeed but to thrive. Continuously developing and nurturing middle managers through regular, quality training and coaching enabled them to reach their full potential. Ultimately, this improved the capability and behaviours of leaders to get the most out of their teams. Recognising the distinctions in leader vs manager roles was fundamental for organisational success.
People Matters HR had a proven track record of helping leaders understand their role so they could carry it out more effectively. Learning from us gave the individuals employed in management roles the tools they needed to help the business grow. If you wanted to help develop your managers into leaders, we could help. Call PMHR on 0161 738 1808 for more information.
Leadership Programme – Spring 2022
People Matters HR CEO Niel Cope delivered an intensive leadership programme made up of six half-day workshops. Each workshop focused on a specific area of leadership. The programme addressed the key challenges businesses faced at the time.
The course ran over six weeks, starting on 28th April 2022. It was accessible via Zoom or through a blended approach combining Zoom and in-person sessions. Each workshop lasted three hours. Sessions were timed to maximise impact while minimising disruption to day-to-day operations.
The cost was £600 per delegate for the full programme. For booking or future sessions, contact us at enquiries@PeopleMattersHR.co.uk or 0161 738 1808.