At this time in my life, I have been tasked with the complex responsibility of managing. I know that I am a leader, and that is what sometimes makes my current role challenging. I find myself wanting to innovate and find ways to improve processes, but I am burdened with the responsibilities of managing the current processes. I do believe that honing my managing skills will help me to be a better leader, and once I return to the role of a leader, I know that I will be much more effective than I was before.
That a manager brings about stability, but a leader brings about change
I also play a dual role of Leader/Manager and find that I end up not delegating tasks many times when I should in fear that the task will not be completed to my satisfaction. My natural need to organize, categorize, and make lists has made me a natural manager however others are not always receptive or conducive to utilizing these skills in their daily tasks which can frustrate them.
Managers promote stability and cope with complexity while leaders press for and cope with change. My dissertation used Kotter's 8 Steps of Leading Change as its theoretical foundation. I've always been amazed by it.
Comment on Sarah Batz's post: This is quite an eye-opener. Team members will try to improve processes or eliminate redundancies. Others will stick to the status quo and follow established blueprints. I now understand the leaders (former) versus the managers (latter).
Leaders want change, managers look for stability
Managers, Administer, Control and Maintain. Leaders Develop and Innovate.
In my current role, I am a leader, and love inspiring, motivating, and helping my team reach new heights in their career paths. After having a better understanding of Manager Vs Leader I have a new found appreciation for the everyday responsibilities that a manager has to work but am also excited to share that vision with my other team members.
Leaders are meant to inspire while managers help to implement the goals and initiatives of the company. Both roles are complementary to one another for success.
I think that it can depend on the needs of the organization as to whether you are a leader (strategic planning, visionary) or switching gears and facing the need to be a great manager (organizing, implementing and/or controlling). I think that both are important and a person that is able to effectively do both - can be valuable OR is also good at identifying organizational talent to make it happen.
I feel like I'm a little bit of both, but thinking of my current role, I'm a manager who has a heavy inclination to be a leader.
Challenging to put yourself in one space or the other. I feel like I work to master them both.
I feel that I am both Leader and Manager.
Difference between leader and manager are a blurred line, but not if you look closely and think about it. A leader originate, create, solve, a manager on the other hand follow, imitate, organize and does not inspire.
From management and leadership, I've learned several invaluable lessons and how they both complement each other. I aim to create a positive and productive work environment where my team can thrive, achieve their goals, and contribute to the success of the organization.
Due to the nature of my work, I play a dual role, sometimes of a leader and sometimes of a manager. The set of skills for both are important and compliment each other
Due to the nature of my work, I have the need to implement both, leadership and management. I am aware that there is always room for improvement. One of the areas I need to work on is the delegation of tasks. Sometimes, I end up doing things that I shouldn't because I don't delegate enough.
In this module I learned that I need to pull back as I have learned that the set of skills I am using are more managerial than leadership. Although I tend to execute as a leader that are apparently more managerial.
I can be an effective manager but not for long because I then start thinking about the next step, the change, the next vision. I admire managers/maintainers.
The key is to be both and know which project/assignment will require a little more than the other. This is done through work study of your time in both positions.
