Manager versus Leader

Business owners - are you a manager or a leader?

Knowing whether you are more a leader or more of a manager will help one gain insight and self -confidence in dealing with others and running your own business.

Managers are good at maintaining the status quo and adding stability and order. However they may not be good at instigating change and envisioning the future. Leaders, on the other hand, are good at stirring people's emotions, raising their expectations, and taking them in new directions. Leaders, however , may tend to be self-absorbed and pre-occupied.

As a business owner, you need to develop both sets of skills - leadership and management skills, whether they come naturally or not. Know where the gaps in your skill-sets, and acquire those that you lack.

The definite strengths and weaknesses of both types of individuals - managers and leaders, can be summarised below:

Managers
- emphasis rationality and control
- problem solvers (focus on goals,resources, organisation structure, people)
- persistent, tough-minded, hard working, analytical, tolerant,
- adopt an impersonal & passive attitude toward goals
- decide upon goals based on necessity instead of desire
- tend to be reactive
- views work as enabling process
- establish strategies and make decisions by combining people and ideas
- good at reaching compromises and mediating conflicts
- tolerate practical, mundane work because of strong survival instinct
- risk-averse
- prefers working with others
- focus on how things get done
- may be viewed as inscrutable, detached, and manipulative
- perpetuate and strengthen existing balance of social relations

Leaders
- perceived as brilliant but sometimes lonely
- control themselves before they try to control others
- can visualise a purpose, and generate value in work
- imaginative, passionate, non conforming risk-takers
- shape ideas instead of responding to them
- have personal orientation towards goals
- provide a vision that alters the way people think about what is desirable, possible and necessary
- develop new approaches to long-standing problems
- use their vision to excite people and then only develop choices
- focus people on shared ideals and raise their expectations
- strong dislike of mundane work
- relate to people in intuitive, empathetic way
- create systems where human relations may be turbulent, intense and at times disorganised
- continual struggle to find some sense of order
- do not take things for granted and are not satisfied with the status quo
- seek and support opportunities for change ( technological, political, ideological)


Read the entire article Managing versus leading

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