Does a good manager automatically become a good leader? What is the difference between leadership and management?
The main difference between leaders and managers is that leaders have people to follow them while managers have people to work for them.
A successful business owner needs to be both a strong leader and a manager to get their team on board to follow them towards their vision of success. Leadership is about getting people to understand and believe in your vision and working with you to achieve your goals, while management is more about managing the day-to-day things and making sure they are that way expire as they should.
They can be both a manager and a leader, or one or the other. When you are in “Management Mode” you are working towards the short term goals. When you are in “leadership mode” you envision a vision of the future and lay the groundwork for influencing others to move into that future with you.
WHILE THERE ARE MANY CHARACTERISTICS THAT MAKE A STRONG LEADER, SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS ARE:
• Honesty and Integrity: are critical to getting your co-workers to believe you and getting them into the mood for the journey you are taking them on
• Vision: Know where you are, where you want to go and take your team on to plan a path for the future
• Inspiration: Inspire your team to do everything by making sure they understand their role in the bigger picture
• Ability to challenge: Don’t be afraid to question the status quo, do things differently and have the courage to think outside the box
• Communication skills: keep your team updated on the journey, where you are, where you are going and share any obstacles you may encounter along the way
SOME OF THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS COMMON TO STRONG MANAGERS ARE:
• Be able to execute a vision: Take a strategic vision and break it down into a roadmap for the team to follow
• Ability to direct: daily work effort, reviewing the resources needed and anticipating needs along the way
• Process management: Define work rules, processes, standards and workflows
• People Focused: Take care of your employees, their needs, listen to them and involve them
So that you can get your employees to offer your guests, customers or partners the best service, you need to include them in your vision and coordinate their perceptions and behaviors. You need to get them excited about where you are leading them while also making sure they know what’s in it for them. The challenge with smaller organizations is making sure that you are both leading your team and managing your day-to-day operations.