A comparison and contrast between Leaders and Managers

Is there a difference between a leader and a manger? Absolutely there is.  Knowing the difference can help someone determine which, if either, role they are called to and how to perform in that role.

Great leaders aren’t necessarily great managers and vice versa. Occasionally someone can excel in both leadership and management. But that is a rare exception. More commonly a person is gifted and called to only one of those areas.

1 Timothy 3:1 says “Whoever aspires to be an overseer (leader) desires a noble task.” Simply stated this means two things 1) not everyone should pursue being a leader and 2) being a leader is a high calling. I’d say that both leadership and management are both callings. Neither should be approached as a job.

A calling is different than a job. A calling is what you were made by God to do and it’s most often confirmed by man. Fulfilling your calling is the best way to live a fulfilled life and the best way to serve others. A job is what you do to earn a living. You are called to a job by man and are confirmed by man for that job.

Every person is created by God with a specific purpose or calling. Ephesians 2:10 says that God has prepared in advance of our lives good works for each of us to do. The closer a person gets to God the easier it becomes to determine what their calling is. For some their calling is leadership. For others their calling is management.

In the best cases a leader and a manager must work very differently yet complimentary. In other cases, perhaps more often than not, the leader and the manager is the same person, which requires them to perform the duties of both roles.

I have been in both scenarios.

In my first role as a Sr. Pastor, I was the only employee for a time. I thought it was funny that they called me the Sr. Pastor even though I had no staff to be senior over. Being the only one on staff I had to do the work of the leader and the manager.  I had to be competent in both roles.

Currently, I have a staff of over 60 with multiple managers, which gives me the opportunity to solely focus on the work of a leader. I’d like to approach this question from my current position. With that in mind, I’d like to offer three significant distinctions between leaders and managers.

Leaders work ON the business. Managers work IN the business.

This is to say that leaders work on the future while managers work on the present.

Working on the business includes things like: planning, strategy, vision, mission, objectives, goal setting, personal growth and the like. This is the work of a leader.

In recent years, as a leader, I’ve understood this to mean that I need to know what we are to be doing in order to achieve our mission and vision and then I give nearly every task to my staff to do. My job then is to coach them along the way.

Working in the business includes: seeing clients, interviewing staff, fighting fires, creating systems, managing staff, productivity, efficiency and so on. This is the work of a manager.

When it comes to vision: Leaders have to know the what and the why. Managers have to know the how.

In the process of sharing and achieving a vision leaders and managers have unique core competencies.

What: The first thing to be answered when sharing a vision is what you want to achieve. It’s best if it’s short, concise and most importantly it must be clear. A wise leader will seek input from his management and advisors as it says in Proverbs 15:22 but the task of developing, clarifying and sharing the vision is solely the job of a leader.

Why: This is the motivational aspect of the vision. It’s the buy-in question. Knowing why we are doing something motivates, unifies and propels a group into motion. If your why doesn't do that then you have the wrong what. And once you have the why you can more easily lead people to achieve it. This task also rests solely on the shoulders of a leader.

How: The role of a manger is to determine how are we going to achieve the vision. They must keep asking this question until they get down into the specifics. Unless this happens, your vision will never happen.

As a leader I’ve learned a few things about this process:

1.   I never feel like I have to have the how figured out to begin with. When I have the what and the why my leaders will easily jump in to help develop the how.

2.   The better job I do at the what and the why the more my people want me to delegate the how to them. As they get excited and develop ownership of the vision they desire to take on the how.

3.   The what question engages the head. The why question engages the heart. The how question engages the hands. A leader’s work is to connect with the head and heart and the manager connects with the hands.

4.   A few years ago the Lord brought to me to Proverbs 15:22 which says “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” I heard the Lord saying to me “If you think you have to be the smartest person in the room you will eventually be in a room full of idiots.” It was at that point I began to stop trying to know all the answers to fulfilling a vision and allowed others to join in on the how. It changed my leadership.

Leaders and Managers have different core competencies

One of the best books I’ve read recently is “The Motive” by Patrick Lencioni. In this book he challenges leaders to know why they desire to lead. The motive to lead is either for rewards (a poor motive) or responsibilities (the right motive). I found this book to be super encouraging and reaffirming. He outlined the five core areas that leaders must do and cannot delegate to managers or any subordinate. I find myself routinely doing these tasks with enjoyment. They are as follows:

1.   Have Difficult Conversations

2.   Manage Direct Reports

3.   Run Great Meetings

4.   Build Culture: The culture a leader creates is the world our employees live in so we must lead wisely.

5.   Repeat Yourself: The leader must be the CRO (Chief Reminding Officer).

A leader will do more than the above five mentioned items but these five items must be done by the leader. While others will certainly assist in these areas, they cannot be delegated out.

Management is much different in that it focuses more on processes, procedures, plans, systems, budgets, forecasts, employees, etc…

I suppose this point further highlights and illustrates the idea that leaders work on the business while manager work in the business.

Additional Differences

• Leaders primarily have followers. Managers primarily have employees.

• Leadership is more of an art. Management is more of a science.

• Leaders should be more of a thinker than a doer. Managers should be more of a doer than a thinker.

• Leaders make decisions. Managers implement decisions.

• Leaders pull the organization. Managers push the organization.

• Leaders build systems. Managers operate and maintain systems.

• Leaders are responsible for the entire organization. Managers are responsible for their particular department(s).

• Leaders ask “What should we be doing?” Managers ask “How can we do what we are already doing better?”

• Leaders are concerned with ends. Managers are concerned with means.

• Leaders develop. Managers maintain.

• Jack Welch, of GE, teaches that the greatest accomplishment of a leader is finding great people. I’d add the greatest accomplishment of a manager is organizing those people.

• Leaders rely on people. Managers rely on systems.

• Leaders produce change. Managers produce predictability.

Conclusion

Although they are different, organizations need both leaders and managers. The key issue is being properly led and properly managed. I’ll close with these two apt quotes:

“Management means doing things right and leadership means doing the right things.” Peter Drucker

“American organizations are underled and overmanaged. They do not pay enough attention to doing the right thing, while they pay too much attention to doing things right.” Warren Bennis