Leadership and Management are the terms that are often considered synonymous. Leadership and Management must go hand in hand.
- Leadership is setting a new direction or vision for a group that they follow, ie: a leader is the spearhead for that new direction
- Management controls or directs people/resources in a group according to principles or values that have already been established.
The difference between leadership and management can be illustrated by considering what happens when you have one without the other.
Leadership without management
It sets a direction or vision that others follow, without considering too much how the new direction is going to be achieved. Other people then have to work hard in the trail that is left behind, picking up the pieces and making it work. Eg: in Lord of the Rings, at the council of Elrond, Frodo Baggins rescues the council from conflict by taking responsibility for the quest of destroying the ring – but most of the management of the group comes from others.
Management without leadership
It controls resources to maintain the status quo or ensure things happen according to already-established plans. Eg: a referee manages a sports game, but does not usually provide “leadership” because there is no new change, no new direction – the referee is controlling resources to ensure that the laws of the game are followed and status quo is maintained.
Leadership combined with management
Does both – it both sets a new direction and manages the resources to achieve it. Eg: a newly elected president or prime minister.
No one is born a leader. People learn it through experience, training and resources. In recent years, some of the leading business institutions are offering leadership training to grow the next set of corporate leaders. For example, the LHH leadership training program is one of the world’s most sought-after ones. It has been helpful in churning out some of the top leaders in various elite business circles in different parts of the world.
The biggest difference between managers and leaders is the way they motivate the people who work or follow them.
Managers have subordinates
By definition, managers have subordinates – unless their title is honorary and given as a mark of seniority
Leaders have followers
Leaders do not have subordinates – at least not when they are leading. Many organizational leaders do have subordinates, but only because they are also managers. But when they want to lead, they have to give up formal authoritarian control, because to lead is to have followers
With the rise of the knowledge worker, “one does not ‘manage’ people,” Mr. Drucker wrote. “The task is to lead people. And the goal is to make productive the specific strengths and knowledge of every individual.”