All leaders perform management functions, but very few managers actually perform leadership functions.
We had an incident recently where 2 people could not behave themselves like adults in a particular setting at work. Instead of dealing with the 2, and making sure they don’t do it again, our management team (note I didn’t say leaders) decided to make a list of archaic rules for that setting, which means that for the bulk of us, who’ve been able to behave ourselves in the same setting for the past 6 years, we now have to conform to the same set of rules. That’s management. Managers deal with a difficult situation in general, they can’t take it head on and resolve it. Leaders get out of their comfort zone, and take it head one, dealing with the cause, not the symptoms.
Never thought of it but that comparison is very true – Managers deal with a difficult situation in general, they can’t take it head on and resolve it.
“Managers deal with a difficult situation in general, they can’t take it head on and resolve it. Leaders get out of their comfort zone, and take it head one, dealing with the cause, not the symptoms.”
Not quite. Good managers would have dealt differently with this issue.
Leaders, at least in the corporate world bring vision and strategy to a company and dont waste their time with such issue that are handled by company managers. Their role is to envisage where the company will be in 5 years for instance and ensure the startegy is aligned with this vision. I have noticed in SA that people confuse all the roles within a corporate environment.