The workforce is changing. Traditional management is headed to the wayside.
As baby boomers move into retirement and millennials enter the workforce, the needs and wants in the workplace, even for those who’ve been around awhile, are evolving. While the Gen-Yers crave culture, flexibility and work-life integration, the Gen-Xers aren’t far behind in their desire for leadership and change.
So how do traditionalist managers adapt? What is the difference between leadership and management? Why does the new workforce seek out the latter? And is traditional management as we know it about to become extinct?
Great Leaders Don’t Herd It
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” (Peter Drucker)
Just like any skill, leadership is learned through our experiences. While its roots are innate, we learn to lead just like we learn anything else. By observing, by trying and even by making mistakes. It’s usually uncomfortable or even difficult at first. It starts with having a desire and intention to lead—not control or dictate. Instead of herding your staff in unison, lead them to not only achieve your goals as a company but also to achieve their own. Acknowledge that not everyone can be led equally.
Begin by identifying the future you want for your company and communicate that vision to your team. Are they responsive? Engaged? Inspired? Next, start small and engage several team members in your immediate circle. Encourage them to help you create something you’ve imagined. You can start small at first, but you’ll quickly notice how well people show up and respond to your request to get them involved. Soon, you will notice how much or little effort it takes to reach your goal.
By evaluating the experience, you’ll be able to identify if it was truly a team effort or whether you were delegating or doing all of the work. This self-reflection is essential in order to develop your skills as a leader. Can you lead? Will others willingly, and enthusiastically, follow? One of the biggest pitfalls in business is trying to get people engaged in doing things without them knowing the context, the purpose or end goal, if you will. While one can be fully engaged in the vision, if they fail to understand the WHY behind the motivation, is there value in it?
Whatever one chooses as his or her personal style, manager or leader, it’s possible that we can become our own worst enemy. We can fail to trust our team, try to accomplish everything ourselves or micromanage every detail for fear that other people won’t do the work to your standards. This is where managing and leading differ. You’ve got to give your team the space needed to do their work and at times make mistakes. After all, we’re all only human and mistakes are not only inevitable, they can also offer invaluable insight. Only then, can your team truly learn and become better players overall.
Great Leaders Inspire and Mobilize
So what does it take to be a great leader? Lead how you would like to be led. There is no magic secret sauce. It all begins with a vision: the ability to imagine a better future that’s possible, but not yet here. A great leader must be able to communicate a vision in a way that others may understand and see too, that it is possible.
By doing so, your team will be inspired to take on that vision as their own. By trusting in your team and in your ability to lead, you can then step back and allow your team to take charge. This may seem bold, but rest assured, if you can channel the team members’ needs and unique personalities, and inspire the best from everyone, they will succeed. They may not have all the steps figured out nor possess all the skills, but by keeping them aligned and focused, and trusting others to lead in areas where they are better prepared or knowledgeable, your team will take it to the next level and help achieve your vision.
How do you keep a team aligned? By understanding that communication skills are absolutely essential to great leadership. However, a great communicator does not equal a great leader. The evidence of a truly great leader is actually found elsewhere— in the energy and commitment of the team and the results it is able to produce in the world. These results are impossible to achieve without great communication of the vision and objectives. You must effectively place the most focus on the big picture and communicate that focus to all involved in making it happen.
Steve Jobs was great at conveying vision and transforming a failing business into the world’s most valuable. He did so, by leading a team with a vision that would revolutionize not only computers, but also the phone and music industries. The company became an expression of his personal values and Apple’s team was built from people not in search of a paycheck but the opportunity to do the best work of their careers. Without his strong and clear leadership, Apple would not be what it is today.
Great Leaders Connect With Their Team We’re not all Steve Jobs, with a vision to revolutionize an industry, but that doesn’t exclude us from leading our team to excel in the workplace. The key is communicating the vision regularly to your team, whether it be weekly team meetings to align focus and monitor progress or quarterly off-sites meant to inspire and re-articulate priorities. Gathering important feedback and engaging your team not only strengthens communication channels but ensures engagement.
Though some may believe that acting as a leader can make it difficult to maintain authority and effectiveness as a manager, I believe authority and effectiveness aren’t actually at odds with one another. The best leaders establish a balance, that allows them to connect with their team, but also tale time to disconnect and reflect, assess and plan how to engage going forward if required.
Great Leaders Are in Perpetual Beta (Always Learning)
Just like most skills, leadership is a skill that can be improved indefinitely. Through selfreflection, hands-on learning, and solicitation of honest, candid feedback from team members, all leaders can continue to sharpen their saws and keep their edge. Similarly, employees must continue to be educated about the difference between leadership and management. They must be able to identify what great leadership looks like, and understand what’s possible for themselves and the organization if they choose to take on becoming a leader.
One of the beautiful things about leadership is the possibility. When you instill your vision within your team, the collaboration of minds, skills, and abilities can be powerful. Your vision may grow and expand as you realize the power of the team you’ve built. Steve Jobs couldn’t have done it alone, but backed by a team that lived and breathed his vision, they revolutionized the face of mobile phones, music and entertainment.
Great Leaders Manage but Aren’t Managers
Does this mean that management isn’t important? Of course not. Management and leadership go hand in hand, like two sides of the same coin. And both, in a healthy balance with one another, are absolutely necessary for making anything meaningful happen in the world. To be posed for success, an organization often needs two people to fill the leadership and management role.
Most entrepreneurs will be stronger in one over the other, a reality that can prove to be problematic. Leaders without management skills are often viewed as dreamers, or worse—delusional. While they can easily get others excited about a vision, they tend to lack the skills to bring it to reality. At the other end of the spectrum, managers without leadership skills are sure to get all of the details handled, but may not be capable of creating a meaningful vision and inspiring others to make it happen.
Leaders have the ability to define a mission, to achieve a vision, while managers have the ability to define the outcomes to complete that mission. This may or may not include the ability to inspire the team. Without inspiration, team members may simply act blindly or do only as they’re told, without context or reason for why their work is important. A true leader is one who can harness both realms, the visionary and the pragmatic, who can see the future and lead others to dream and do in that direction as well.
Paulo Coelho once said “The reward of our work is not what we get, but who we become.” Becoming a great leader in the workplace changes you as a person, but it’s a change that can help change an industry for the better.
