Leadership vs. Management

A511.1.3.RB

The first person that comes to mind when thinking about an inspirational leader is my high school football coach. At first glance it would be easily understandable to choose such a person because a coach by definition is “a person who teaches and trains an athlete or performer” (Merriam-Webster). Their purpose it would seem on the surface is to train you, make you better at something and develop you for a given sport or team function. At least this was my first inclination at the time. Over time however, through this individual’s actions, expectations and severe discipline, it became clear to me that his “purpose” was to shape young men into hardworking productive adults with an extraordinary work ethic to be successful beyond the playing field. As I participated in other activities with other coaches, another thing became clear, not all coaches share the same purpose. Many of the hard lessons I learned from this coach has served me well into my military profession and still beyond. Two important concepts that I took away from this leader is that the “easy path will produce the easy results” and that when things get though “sometimes you have to close your eyes, grit your teeth and keep your feet moving.”

As I have transitioned from active service to the civilian world, I believe that leadership and management intersect on many levels. This was not always that case. While in service as an officer where the majority of my leadership skills were learned and refined, I hardly concerned myself with the management aspect and held leadership as the main focus since everyone above the rank of sergeant (E-5) is considered and expected to be a leader. Army Doctrine Publication 6-22 (2012) describes a leader as:

An Army leader is anyone who by virtue of assumed role or assigned responsibility inspires and influences people to accomplish organizational goals. Army leaders motivate people both inside and outside the chain of command to pursue actions, focus thinking and shape decisions for the greater good of the organization.

As a military leader, I wanted to know my subordinates. I wanted to know who they were, where they came from, their family situation, their strengths and weakness in order to best train and develop them and set them up for success in their personal and professional life. I would supervise their execution of training and conduct and manage the systems involved that contributed to their progress. Now in the civilian world, it appears at this stage that the same applies, but more stock is placed in the management of work, people and progress.

Where I believe leadership and management intersect is situationally dependent on the purpose of the work (why) and the quality and style of the manager. For example, if I were a manager in production business where the product or services were mainly automated or occurred systematically and people were place within the system to ensure a continuous flow and had little impact on the product itself, my concern would be on what drives the system (mechanical) or how do I get the most from the system (software)? Obviously managing would be the priority, perhaps followed by supervising the people who ensure the flow and periodically motivating them with leadership to keep morale up.  Whereas if I were in the marking business and people (subordinates) were the “go getters,” leadership would be more applicable because of the human dimension involved (subordinates and customers) and the dynamic business environment. Needless to say, leadership and management exist in either case and anyone responsible for either should be expected to utilize and employ their abilities to achieve the organizations desired outcome.

Simon Sinek’s discussion of the “why” of leadership was enlightening and essential to the concept of leadership. When people (subordinates, team, group) understand and share the same believe as to the “why” they are doing what they are doing, they are more willing to accept more personal sacrifice and “lean into” the hard work required to achieve the organizational goal(s). It becomes a personal investment opposed to just collecting a pay check.

 
References:

Army Doctrine Publication 6-22. (2012). Headquarters, Department of the Army. Retrieved from

http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/adp6_22.pdf

Coach [Def. 1]. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Online, Retrieved January 14, 2016, from

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coach