Balancing leadership and management

Early in my career, I thought that leadership was what the people at the very top of the organisation did and that management was what all of the people in the middle of the organisational structure did. However, while this positional view is correct in many organisations, it does not need to be that way. Management and leadership are both necessary components of a successful organisation of any size. Here's why.

The differences between leadership and management
The role of a leader in any organisation is to set the direction. A leader is the first to envision a future position for the organisation and first to evangelise that position. Leadership is about finding a point on the horizon and saying, loudly and firmly, we should go there.

Management focuses on keeping the ship upright and moving in the direction that it's headed. It's not about picking a point on the horizon and going there. Management is about plotting progress towards the spot on the horizon.

Great organisations realise that being good at only one of these two roles is a great feat in itself, but a person who excels at both leadership and management is very difficult, if not impossible, to find. That's why most organisations have a separate chief executive officer and a chief operations officer. The chief executive officer is the leader of the organisation, responsible for charting a course. The chief operations officer is the manager responsible for making sure that the ship follows the charted course. They work together to make the organisation as effective as possible.

The formula for success
An organisation needs to synthesise a model of the leadership/management combination if it wants to be truly successful. If you're in the position to hire someone, you'll want to look for complementary skills. If you're a natural leader you'll want to hire someone with strong management skills. Similarly, if you're great at managing things you'll want to make sure that you include leaders in the organisation so that you have a source for the leadership you'll need. However, hiring these skills is a luxury that few managers can afford. Instead, consider how to identify and encourage these skills in the people you already have working with you.

Identifying a leader : Finding a good leader as a subordinate — or even as a peer, if the structure of the organisation allows — is a difficult challenge. We create managers in our business world. Each day we beat into the unsuspecting workers the need to manage and control. In short, we repeatedly demonstrate what management is and why it's important. Leadership often requires...

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