Blog: Leadership

Hey everyone! I know it's been quite awhile since I've posted a blog up here, but I'm going to try and get back on top of that (it should be easier since I'm out for the summer now, haha).

I know leadership is something that I've already blogged about, but seeing how it's a rather important subject, I thought that I would revisit it.

Dianne Walker from The Network Journal has an insight into leadership that I thought was rather interesting. It’s that management and leadership are two very different things, and that leadership is much more effective than management. Here’s why.

Management is concerned with one thing, and that is managing people. Before you exit the page because of how overwhelmingly obvious that statement was, allow me to explain. Managing people is not so much people oriented as it is goal oriented. I need this done, at this time, and in this way. While that does get things done, it rejects, for the most part, the human element involved in leading people. If the people under you start getting into the perform-or-else mentality, the work quality will probably go down because of the stress and arbitrary nature the work will have taken on, and the people under you will not like you. At all.

Leadership on the other hand is entirely people oriented. This is because a leader is more concerned with vision and direction than with a certain goal being done by a certain time. They recognize those things as important, but the tasks are a means to an end rather than a list of tasks that must be accomplished. A leader also has to communicate the vision and direction to the people under him so that they catch the vision as well. Once people catch that vision, they recognize that their work has value, that it means something. A good leader will also make sure that the people under him are being properly utilized and affirmed. This makes the people feel valued and, again, makes them feel that their work is valuable.

The ultimate point is this. The people under you will like you much more, be more effective, and actually enjoy what they are doing more, if you are leading them rather than managing them.

I hope this helped!