Lead or Manage? Why You Need to Do Both

Part I. Making Your Leadership Work

To lead or manage? This is the wrong question – you need to do both.

The differences between managing and leading are crucial, and you will find a lot of material on the subject.

But the comparisons imply that leadership is preferable to management, and that in order to be a leader, you must leave the managing to others.

This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

When you manage, you should also be leading in order to be at your most effective. And when you are leading, you absolutely have to manage, as well.

What are the key differences, and how do you make them work together?

Leading focuses on taking the enterprise into the future, creating followership through influence in order to meet the vision, mission, and objectives of the enterprise.

Managing focuses on the work at hand, ensuring that the necessary pieces work well together to meet the vision, mission, and objectives of the enterprise.

Attributes of leading include:

Attributes of managing include:

Create and share vision Inspire change Imagine possibilities Lead forward, setting direction Anticipate trends Coach and mentor talent for culture and succession planning Ability to think abstractly Ability to articulate and influence

Ensure goals and objectives are being met Understand how the work gets done in an organization Accountable to team Ability to teach and mentor Ability to monitor and interpret data, outcomes Self-discipline Direct others Provide input

As you review these two lists and make your own comparisons, where are you? Can you see that, if you are to be most effective, you will actually need to be able to do both?