Are Leadership and Management Different?
There are a certain key differences between leaders and managers, even though both the concepts must go hand in hand. In a book published in 1989, “On Becoming a Leader”, Warren Bennis highlighted following differences. In his opinion, managers administer, but leaders innovate. Because of this the managers just maintain, whereas the leaders develop. This is what makes a manager a copy, whereas the developmental efforts make a leader original. Further, the manager focuses on the structure and system, whereas leader focuses on people. This is further exemplified by manager’s focus on control, and leader’s emphasis on generating trust. In other words, manager has short-range of view and leader has a longer range. The manager typically wants to know how things develop and when they develop. On the other hand, a leader tries to go into reasons behind it, and wants to know the “why”. In business language, it can be stated that a manager is more concerned about the bottom line, whereas leader generates hope and is always looking at the horizon. Therefore, a manager imitates to maintain status quo, whereas a leader uses his originality to challenge a status quo. This makes a manager a classic soldier that follows the order, whereas a leader is his own person. In summary, a manager does the things right, whereas a leader does right things.
Charismatic and Transformational Leadership
There are two broad leadership theories – charismatic and transformational – however, both have something in common. Both, view leaders as those who inspire their followers via “words, ideas, and behavior”.
Typically, followers attribute extraordinary leadership capabilities when they observer certain specific things in a leader. Such leaders; have a vision; are ready to take personal risk in order to achieve that vision; are sensitive to followers’ needs; and should also demonstrate extraordinary behaviour. It is generally believed that charismatic leaders are born with those traits. However, there is growing acceptance of the fact that charismatic leaders can be developed. A three step approach has been recommended, which includes; having an aura by keeping an optimistic view; using passion to generate enthusiasm; and communicating with whole body, not just the words. These charismatic leaders influence their followers via a four step process. First, by articulating vision, and then followed by a vision statement. Next, they use their words and action to covey these next set of values, and they engage in emotion-inducing behaviour to show courage and conviction.
In contrast, the transformational leaders inspire their followers to work of the good of the organization. In summary, a transformational leader creates a vision and a sense of mission for self, and for the organization. This allows them to instill pride, and gain respect and trust. To achieve this, they set high expectations; use symbols to focus their efforts; and express important things in simple ways. The transformational leaders are more effective because they are also more creative, and in addition, they inspire others to be creative. Consequently, in companies with such leaders, there is generally a greater agreement regarding goals and deliver superior performance. In one study, an organization whose leaders scored high on transformational score produced better quality products after 1yr and profits 5 year later. In another such study, branch managers who had undergone transformational leadership training performed better than those who hadn’t. Lastly, the universal elements of transformational leadership are; vision; foresight; encouragement; trustworthiness; dynamism; positivity; and proactiveness.
What is Authentic Leadership?
The authentic leaders have a greater level of self-awareness. Put simply, they know; who they are; what they believe in; and act on those values and beliefs openly. As a result, people develop faith in them. However, this is a new concept, and a lot of research needs to be done on it. Transformational or charismatic leaders too can have a vision and communicate is persuasively, but their vision can also be wrong. There have been a few examples where leaders had wrong vision, such as, Dennis Kozlowski, Jeff Skilling, and Raj Rajaratnam.
How is Mentoring Valuable to Leadership?
According to , a mentor is a senior leader who guides and supports a budding leader, or a protégé. For example, successful mentors are like a good teacher. They also have following attributes; ability to present ideas clearly, good listeners, and ability to express empathy with protégé’s problems. Besides the formal mentor and mentee relationship, informal relationship also develop at work out of leaders desire to help a budding leader.
A question comes, why would anybody want to be a mentor? Most leaders feel the need to share their experiences and leave a legacy behind. This also allows the mentee to access what is routinely not found in books or journals. At the same time mentees can be an excellent source of ground level input to the mentor. However, all is not smooth as one would want. It has been observed that mentors typically look for mentees which are very similar in background, education, gender, race, ethnicity, and religion. Therefore, minorities and women are less likely to be chosen. In this regard, many organizations have created mentoring programs to ensure that it is available to women and minorities. One might expect that the benefits of mentoring might influence compensation and performance, but it is mostly psychological, which in itself is sufficient.
How can Organizations Select and Develop Effective Leaders?
The organizations that have created and entire process of filling management positions, is essentially an exercise in selecting and developing effective leaders. They begin with reviewing the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be effective in the job. The employ various personality tests to identify various leadership traits that associated with leadership. These measures would include, but are not restricted to, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Also, companies have observed that those with high emotional intelligence (EI) have an advantage in situations where transformational leadership is required.
As nothing in permanent in business, it is very important that organizations change the leadership. As a case in example, Apple took a lot of time in carefully looking for successor for Steve Jobs. It has been observed that when other organizations don’t spend time on succession planning, they might get poor leaders.
In this regard organization spend sizable amount of money in leadership training and development. Universities such as Harvard, Dartmouth, MIT, and Stanford are playing a leadership role in leader development. Similarly, Goldman Sachs is very well known in leadership development, and therefore, BusinessWeek called it a “Leadership Factor”. Let’s determine how managers can get maximum benefits from these leadership programs. First of all we should realize that such a kind of leadership training will be more effective on those who are self-monitors. These kinds of people have the flexibility to change their behaviour. Secondly, what is taught at these universities might be for a higher level of leaders. In this respect, they should be careful in choosing the program. However, middle managers can be taught skills like trust building and mentoring. Among other things they can also be taught situational analysis, which will allow them to evaluate situations, modify them suit their situation, and which behaviour will be most suited in the situation.
EI in Making Leader more Effective
It is important to express and control one’s emotions, and so is our ability to “understand, interpret, and respond” to emotions of others. Therefore, emotional intelligence (EI) is referred to as the ability to “perceive, control and evaluate emotions”. Some believe it can be learnt, others feel it is inborn. I would consider it a combination of two. We are born with some amount of EI, and we can develop it further by our efforts.
Broadly speaking, there are four branches of emotional intelligence. Firstly, it is the perception of emotions, which is to accurately perceive them. Secondly, it will be the ability to reason with one’s emotions. This involves using emotions to “promote thinking and cognitive activity”. And, helps us in prioritizing in what pay attention to and react to. Thirdly, it helps us understand emotions, and what it means. That subtle message goes a long way in our work routine. Fourth, it involves managing one’s emotions in response to the others’.
Further, here would be the four signs that will tell one has high emotional intelligence. First, one should be curious about people one does not know. Second, one is a great leader. Third, one is aware of one’s strengths and weaknesses. Fourth, one knows how to pay attention. Fifth, one knows why one is upset. Sixth, one gets along with most people. Seventh, one genuinely cares to be a good and moral person. Eight, one cares to make note of other’s problem and then tries to help them. Ninth, one is good at reading others facial expression. Tenth, one has the ability to get going after setback. Eleventh, you are a good judge of others’ character. Twelfth, one has trust in one’s gut feeling. Thirteenth, one is self-motivated. Finally, the fourteenth, one has the power to say no.
References
Cherry, K. (n.d.). What Is Emotional Intelligence? Retrieved from About.com: http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/emotionalintell.htm
Gregoire, C. (2013, 12 05). How Emotionally Intelligent Are You? Here's How To Tell. Retrieved from The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/05/are-you-emotionally-intel_n_4371920.html
Murray, A. (n.d.). What is the Difference Between Management and Leadership? Retrieved from The Wall Street Journal: http://guides.wsj.com/management/developing-a-leadership-style/what-is-the-difference-between-management-and-leadership/
Robbins, & Judge. (2009). Basic Approach to Leadership. In Robbins, & Judge, Organizational Behaviour. Prentice-Hall Inc.
