Leadership and Management, why we need both

Hello class (and everyone else) and welcome back to my blog. This week we read about leadership and management. Today I will be talking about why you can'y have one without the other. First lets go over the basics. What is leadership? What is management?

Leadership is the process of social influence in which a person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. That can mean alot of things. There are those that simply follow someone because that leader has charisma that can't be ignored, or the one that I like is someone that motivates people and organize them to achieve a common goal. Leadership is about having a vision, being enthusiastic about that vision and remaining vigilant because everyone might not see your vision or understand it the way that you do. Martin Luther King had a vision of equality for all races. Other people believed in this vision as well and they followed Martin Luther King and attended marches, boycotted buses etc. A great leader that has qualities above in the picture can try make a difference in the world. There is also price to consider. Since the recession, it has been difficult to get businesses off the ground. Then again when is it ever a good time to start a business. In order to be successful leader and launch a successful business you need a supportive team that believes in you vision. That goes back to what I mentioned before about leaders getting people to understand their vision and follow them. Leaders like Steve Jobs who founded Apple which is now a multinational technology company. I bet his old partner Ronald Wayne wishes he hadn't sold his share of the company for $800.

Looking towards the future and finding the people to manage that dream

Leaders in business are always looking towards the future. To create  a vision for their organization, they focus on the organization's strengths by using tools such as Porter's Five Forces, Core Competence etc. to analyze their current situation. Leaders look to how they can innovate successfully and shape their businesses and their strategies to succeed in future marketplaces. In a way leadership is proactive. You deal with problem solving, looking ahead and not being satisfied with things as they are. 

Management in business is the function that coordinates the efforts of people to accomplish goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Where is leaders have a vision and work toward making that vision a reality, managers job includes planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling an organization to accomplish the goals. The reason I say that you need both leadership and management is because some leaders don't make decisions when it comes to the management side of things and some managers are not leadership material. They know how to plan, hire staff etc. but lack the charisma or skills to be a true leader. Like a CEO for a company has a board or how the president of the United States has congress, these leaders have "managers" so to speak that they have to go to to get things approved. 

There are some that have difficulty knowing the difference, especially in this new economy. Workers are no longer a part of the machine that works and asks no questions. People look to management to define for them a purpose. In most cases whatever company you work for you will never meet the CEO or the founder of the company so management is who they look to for leadership. With workers being more knowledgeable then in the past they have come to expect their managers to lead with the goal of making specific strengths and knowledge of every individual

Breaking down the difference

Lets really break it down now. Mangers have a position of authority given to them by a company and their subordinates work for them and do as they are told by management. Workers do as they are told because the reward is getting their salary for the day, their paycheck on pay day and that they keep their jobs. Mangers get paid to get things done under tight constraints and pass that pressure on to their subordinates.

Following leaders is a voluntary act. Leaders do not have subordinates. Leaders give up their formal authoritarian control which again is because following the leader is voluntary, you don't have to if you don't want to. Telling people what to do is what managers do but bossing people around does not inspire them to follow you. You have to appeal to people, showing them that your way can lead them to what they have always wanted. Leaders with a strong charisma can get people to even follow you into dangerous situations that they would not normally consider risking.

Closing 

I have found myself at my own job looking at management for leadership. I have an assistant manager, branch manager, and manager above them that I know, the area manager. It's a continuing cycle until you reach the top which would be the Taylor family since I work at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I have never and probably will never meet a member of the Taylor family but I can understand what Jack Taylor (the founder of Enterprise) was trying to do. Alot of people probably thought he was crazy for focusing on the hometown market while his competition was focused on rentals at airports but he had a vision and it worked. He began offering home pickup services which eventually became the slogan "we'll pick you up". He started out with 8 cars and now there are over 1 million cars worldwide. (the acquisition of National and Alamo Rent-A-Car in 2007 had something to do with that) In today's business alot of managers have had to step up to the plate of leading as well. The way my job is setup each Enterprise is its own business with its own budget and decisions being made by our branch manager. You quickly learn how to run a business and be a leader.