A few years back I worked with an associate who was highly critical and analytical of virtually everything. When people would offer him analogies that made no sense, he would kindly say “that’s like comparing apples to hammers.”
In my experiences of presenting management and leadership seminars, I have come to realize that (all too often) people consistently confuse managing with leading. The words manager and leader are frequently used interchangeably to describe a person’s position or responsibilities, not what he or she is actually doing. It is for this reason I desire to bring about the realization that managing and leading are as different as apples and hammers.
In looking at the differences between what it means to manage and what it means to lead consider this, in the execution of my job I manage “things” and I lead people.
Managing is the act of coordinating people and resources to efficiently produce goods or services. For example, I manage P/L, operations, budgeting, reporting, filings, marketing, sales, processes, schedules, resources, and so forth.
Leading, however, is the process of influencing others to achieve mutually agreed upon purposes for the greater good of the organization. Where these mutually agreed upon purposes are “people centered,” an organization’s level of achievement grows exponentially.
I believe the inverse of this is true as well. When mutually agreed upon purposes are not “people centered,” the organization’s level of achievement declines and it can not reach its maximum capacity. In this “management only” state, personnel charged with the responsibility of overseeing others frequently add people to their list of management functions. Thus, they view themselves as managers of people and non-human resources.
It is my belief that this thought process is directly connected to the ideals of effective “human resource management.” Those three words simply describe the functions associated with a department that is charged with managing the processes and resources necessitated by human capital such as recruiting, retention, benefits etc... Over time I have watched those three words become twisted into what is now thought of as “people management.” The end result is that employees charged with management responsibilities often think of people as they do other non-human resources. People, those on which the organization depends, become merely a number, a sort of necessary evil needed for achieving organizational goals. When this thought is present, realized or not, it reaches to front line personnel and touches your stakeholders and customers through a poor experience. Typically, these poor experiences are the result of an organization’s focus on managing, instead of leading, its people.
Next in this “management only” state, executive and middle management teams become engrossed in profit and loss, rather than quality, because the bottom line is suffering. When this occurs, organizational quality deteriorates and the principles associated with true leadership are in danger of being wiped off the organizational map. As a result, the issue that is plaguing that organization’s achievement is poor performance, the root causes of which are overlooked because they are behavior based and not being viewed with a leadership mindset of creating quality through positive organizational behavior. Thus, the organizational behavior(s) causing poor performance are not addressed. Why, because the focus, again, is on managing, not leading.
So what does it mean to lead?
Leading is not about resources, profit, loss, etc… It is about people! I have seen that when people are properly led, they will effectively manage resources, cut losses, and raise profitability all within a mindset of creating quality. It has been my experience that when management and supervisory personnel are centered on leading people and managing resources, their employees strive for individual excellence and organizational achievement. The associated benefits are empowered employees who work well with others, stay on the job, and increase the bottom line!
As I stated earlier, leading is the process of influencing others to achieve mutually agreed upon purposes for the greater good of the organization. British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery stated it this way, “Leadership is the capacity to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.”
Obviously, leadership is based on the principles of creating influence. Montgomery, in his definition adds character as a key element of the leader. It is character that insures a leader holds to practices that are legal, ethical, and moral. Further, it is a leader’s combination of character and influence that creates organizational quality. Thus, quality comes from leadership, not management.
This is a good place to point out that there are many people who hold executive level positions, some with long tenure and great power, in both large and small companies that have absolutely no leadership skills whatsoever. Do not assume that a person’s organizational rank is equal to his leadership ability. That being said, we must be careful not to confuse profitability with leadership skill. An organization may be highly profitable, but its executives and management team may not possess the most basic leadership skills! In fact, they may be holding the organization back from even greater financial success!
So what does a leader do?
A leader is not focused on the bottom line; he or she is focused on the people who create the bottom line. What I mean by this is that a leader is keenly aware of the behaviors that create success. For example, a leader knows that over promising and under delivering destroys credibility. While credibility issues exist in most organizations, leaders focus on correcting the behaviors that cause this, not the outcome it caused. Let me also say, a leader does not fail to address the damage of lost credibility, but he or she does so in behavioral terms, by addressing the specific behaviors that created the deficit. Why? Because a leader knows that if the behaviors causing these types of problems can be identified and corrected, these types of problems will self-mitigate over time. Accordingly, leaders focus on creating desired behaviors within the people they lead in order to ensure that behaviors leading to success become the organizational norm.
When looking more specifically at what a leader does, I have realized that Leaders forge a path for themselves and others as they move toward success.
Success then, is that common and agreed upon purpose of the organization. While the leader’s path may be rocky, muddy, cluttered, sloping, or non existent, the leader is constantly forging ahead toward that common and agreed upon purpose. Whether it is raining or sunny, the leader moves beyond mere identification of the roadblocks on his or her path by developing solutions for the roadblocks, and overcoming them with the utmost skill! Leaders refuse the option of victimization by not seeking to place blame on others for what happens on their path, but rather they focus on creating a culture that is built on achievement through guidance. The leader keeps his path protected with clearly defined expectations, boundaries, and values. These expectations, boundaries, and values in effect create a culture that is defined in terms of accepted and expected behaviors. And finally, the leader gets agreements from those they are leading to maintain the culture that is created! Thus, with agreement comes accountability!
I am sure that you have heard it said that “leading is done best if by example.” While I agree, I must ask whose example?
One great example of leadership is Randall Tobias, former CEO of Eli Lilly. In his book, “Put the Moose on the Table,” Tobias states that “if you were an Eli Lilly employee in 1993 sitting in a conference room talking about several ways to deal with a problem and you had a strong point of view that wasn’t going to be popular with the group or with your boss, chances are you didn’t offer that opinion for fear of damaging your career or worse. Also, you didn’t want to hurt someone’s feelings.” Evidently, the Eli Lilly Company instilled, through behaviors, a fear based culture. This culture is what led to the many issues the company faced during the years prior to the arrival of Tobias.
As I have studied quality leaders over the last few years, I see five primary areas that seem to emerge in the quality leader. It is my belief that current leaders, as well as those desiring to lead, can focus within these areas for both themselves and the people they lead.
1. Communicate the vision! This is movement beyond the buzzword “vision.” Leaders develop a shared vision that is compelling, communicated, and embraced. Leaders do this by:
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Creating a crystal clear vision that is compelling and firmly articulated to those they lead
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Expecting and teaching others to own the vision
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Guiding others as they create action based, behavioral centered, measurable, and focused missions toward the vision
2. Know the role! Leaders know and understand that their primary role is to ensure the success of the people they lead. They do this by making certain that their people:
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Know exactly what is expected of them in all aspects of their job performance
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Have all the necessary tools and resources to effectively perform their jobs and execute their responsibilities
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Are given timely and effective feedback on their job performance
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Are rewarded and recognized appropriately for superior performance
3. Build trust! Leaders are open and honest. With both of these comes vulnerability. Leaders understand that vulnerability is the key to trust. Leaders create trust by:
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Being honest in all situations
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Allowing for mistakes from both themselves and those they lead
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Dismantling and removing fear from the organization
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Effectively and quickly addressing issues that cause conflict and turmoil
4. Create accountability! Leaders understand that lack of accountability is the greatest roadblock on the path to success. Leaders:
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Employ an accountability process that is clean, safe, and well understood
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Use the accountability process for all issues arising from shortfalls and failure to execute or maintain commitments
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Hold themselves accountable to agreements by admitting any failure to execute or maintain commitments
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Hold those they lead accountable to shortfalls and failure to execute or maintain commitments
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Do not let people “off the hook” when accountability is needed
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Leave no room for victimization in the accountability process
5. Maintain integrity! Leaders maintain integrity in all that they do. A leader’s word matches his or her actions with pin point accuracy. Leaders foster and develop integrity by:
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Keeping words congruent with behavior
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Keeping promises, commitments, and their word
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Holding oneself and others accountable for behavior or outcomes
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Being responsible for their life
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Owning all of who they are; even the parts they may not like
So, if you are a leader, understand that leaders raise organizational performance by increasing individual performance capacity within their organization! In other words, people benefit from, and respond to, their presence. It is my belief that true leaders create positive organizational behaviors resulting in satisfied organizational members or employees. Those members or employees then create satisfied customers, stakeholders, and quality products. All the while, performing at a high capacity, not because they have to, but because they want to!
Ron Morrison is the CEO of SASI Consulting. For more information, email Ron directly at
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