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The development professional, in that role, essentially carries out the task of implementing specific strategies and managing the programme efficiently within the set framework. This is akin to what a manager does. The leadership role is different and yet complementary to this. The initial section of this article will explore their differences and their similarities followed by a discussion on the path needed to be taken by aspiring managers to make the transition to become a leader.
One common question is whether the manager and a leader are different and is one better than the other? Yes, the roles are very different and yet they cannot be compared on a scale of importance since both are very necessary and are complementary to each other. Here are some of the major distinctions and how they complement each other.
- Setting a Direction/Vision Vs. Planning and Budgeting:
An effective leader is highly conscious of the external world and the opportunities out there as it relates to the organization. Based on this, the leader is able to conceptualize a vision for the organization and the direction it should take to realize this vision. This is not a one time process. While the vision could be far reaching and all encompassing, the dynamic external environment would open up several opportunities continuously leading to multiple strategic activities. Often times, the opportunities would present themselves as a problem or a constraint and it takes a person with a leadership outlook to recognize them as opportunities and at the same time be able to distinguish the opportunities that will contribute to the vision from those that wont.
This vision and direction by itself cannot achieve the decided goal. This vision and the direction will need to be translated into implementation plans, matched with required resources, infrastructure, equipment, people and money. It requires a competent manager to do this and do this in a way that it contributes to the vision achievement.
- Inspiring People Vs Communication Systems & MIS:
An effective leader inspires the staff and creates in them a passion to pursue the vision and in the tasks that they perform. The element of passion significantly enhances the involvement and commitment which directly impacts the efficiency and outcome. This is often brought about by the leader becoming a role model and through effective communications.
While inspiration and passion impacts how the individuals act and do their work, for healthy interaction and good decision making there needs to be good communication and information systems. Some of them would be formal and structured while the other would be less formal. It takes a good manager to design and keep good communications going within the organization and with the external world. It also takes a lot of managerial skill to look at the large amount of data that is generated and translate them into useful information and do this in a timely fashion.
- Aligning and Leading Vs Organizing and Staffing:
An effective leader pays a lot of attention to bringing people on Board. It is important that everyone in the organization subscribes to the vision and is in agreement with its strategies. Through this alignment process, a leader is able to create a high level of synergy in the organization and lead the staff towards the goal.
In the implementation of the strategies several tasks have to be performed in harmony by different people. A certain structure is required for effective coordination and cooperation. A skilful manager will be able to build on the synergy created by the alignment and create an organizational structure with appropriate staffing. The work place also tends to be dynamic due to external or internal reasons requiring constant shifting and staffing.
- Motivating People Vs Controlling & Problem Solving:
Leader tends to get the best out of the people through motivation and creating a positive energy. An effective manager works to maintain this energy through appropriate control mechanism such as performance appraisal etc. The manager facilitates effective functioning through problem solving and improving the work environment.
- Outcome Orientation Vs Procedure Orientation:
A leader is concerned about the outcome and is driven by the vision achievement. This focus helps the leader to constantly evolve new directions and seize new opportunities. For outcomes to happen there needs to be a process or a procedure in place which uses the resources and inputs efficiently towards reaching process targets. These procedures have to be constantly monitored, fine tuned and kept in a state of high performance. A manager is concerned with this aspect and is accountable for this.
- Fostering Culture & Values Vs Developing Systems & Procedures:
A leader works on building an organizational culture with a set of values that are most suited for the strategies for achieving the vision. In most organizations the uniqueness and an element of unconscious competence often come from the organizational culture and the value framework within which it operates. It is easy to replicate the infrastructure, systems and the processes but it is very difficult to replicate an organizational culture and this often provides the competitive edge. An effective leader recognizes this and devotes time in developing a strong organizational culture and this directly impacts on the organizational effectiveness. Organizations with good work culture spend less on control systems and there would also be less bureaucracy.
However for the values and the cultures to be effective, work systems have to be in place. Well designed systems can simplify the tasks to an extent that makes it possible for even complex tasks to be done well without dependence on high skill levels. It takes a skilful manager to take a complex activity and develop it into a system which could be operated by a common person.
Making the Transition:
While there would be a lot of merit in the common quote that leaders are born and not made, there is still a process which can help to bring out the leadership potential in individuals, nurture them and develop them to assume the leadership role. This leadership development process requires both, the individual and the organization to be pro-active.
What the organization must do:
Not many organisations engage in a proactive process to develop leaders. Often time, leadership positions are filled by internal promotion of a well performing manager or through external recruitment. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesnt. It would pay an organization to proactively involve in a leadership development process using some of the steps described below. One of the very first thing to do is to identify the pool of potential employees who can be moulded to lead the organization.
- Broadening the perspective:
One of the most important ingredients of leadership is the capacity to vision. Leaders with this capacity are those who have a broader perspective of the work environment and are constantly aware of the external opportunities. The organization can structure the development of such broader perspective to the potential leadership team by allowing them to grow beyond the narrow confines of the managerial job assigned to them. Developing a broader perspective can be achieved through exposure to other organizations, industries, sabbatical etc.
- Encouraging innovation:
The organization should allow space for such individuals to take risk and allow them to innovate and deal with the consequences. It must be recognized that success and failure are both inevitable outcomes of innovation and taking risk. While success can be ego-gratifying, the failures are the great teachers and the organization should encourage learning from such failures rather than imposing controls or strictures.
- Offering new challenges:
The managerial function, though challenging, essentially has the character of carrying out routine tasks with predictable crisis and pre-defined challenges. Confining a person doing only this for long, blunts the leadership potential and hence it is for the organization to pro-actively look for challenging assignment which preferably should fall well outside the scope of the routine work and responsibility.
- Organizational Culture:
The organizational culture also has a strong influence on the leadership development. Organisations that are very strongly systems driven and are bureaucratic tend to produce just that efficient managers or bureaucrats. The leadership development requires a different environment and culture, which fosters innovation and trying out new ideas.
- Mentoring:
Mentoring is an effective process for nurturing, leadership development. Mentoring is an organic process and should not be made as a system. Yet it has to be performed consciously with a process to ensure that it gets done.
What the individual must do:
As much as the organization, the individuals aspiring to become leaders also have to take initiatives to build in them the required capacities and competence.
- Source of energy:
The path leading to leadership and being a leader has its own ups and downs. While success, rewards and external recognition can be great for ego gratification, they can also become the main source of self-motivation. In such individuals the downs lead to periods of being ineffective from which some find it difficult to come out. The individuals have to work on developing an internal energy source to motivate and inspire them. This is also referred to as developing a passion for the work. Deeper the passion less is the influence by the external factors including success and failures.
- Big picture:
However it is important that such passion or energy is directed in the right direction. Here is where the capacity to constantly have a Big Picture in focus and developing a vision becomes important. One has to consciously look beyond the details of the work and constantly be in touch with the real purpose for the actions. Without such consciousness, the details will take over the real purpose.
- Taking initiative:
People aspiring to become leaders are often currently in a position wherein they are being told what to do or given specific framework to work in or targets to achieve. When one becomes a leader this gets reversed and it is for the leader to identify what direction should be taken and determine the strategies to be adapted and who should be doing it. Such a change does not take place only by designation or title. This brings in the important characteristic of taking initiative. Without exception, everybody has opportunities to do beyond their defined tasks, which can in fact enhance the given task itself. Being conscious of such opportunities and taking initiative in performing them adds another building block in the transitions to leadership. An integral part of taking initiative is the process of experimentation and innovation.
- Perseverance:
Every idea, to make it work, requires a lot of labour. The process will be filled with unexpected outcomes, non-cooperative staff, and failures. It requires a lot of perseverance to keep working driven by internal energy and passion to do the work.
- Working with people:
Another important characteristic of a leader is a capacity to reach out and touch the people. This capacity comes out of developing a genuine concern for the vision and for the individuals connected to the vision - enablers or the beneficiaries of the vision.
Not all leaders are alike, not all leaders are considered good and not all leaders work sustain and perpetuate beyond their time. Leaders driven by vision that benefit all of humanity and the environment tend to leave behind an organization that is cherished and carried forward. Those leaders who put their interests before others often engage in discriminative or manipulative strategies. While they can still be effective in achieving their goal, such success often tends to be short lived. Good leaders pay equal attention to the means as to the goals.
It must be recognised not all leadership position is designated with a formal title, while it is not uncommon for people with formal leadership titles to assume that role. In such formal organizations the individuals in leadership positions are effective when they possess these qualities and do not merely maintain the organization but are able to further grow the organization and venture in new directions. In people organizations, it is the true leader who eventually also becomes the formal leader. The transition of a professional or manager to a leader is an exciting journey which requires pro-active work both by the organization and individuals.
References:
- What Leaders Really do, John P. Kotter, Harvard Business Review, Managers as Leaders, P.3-11. May June 1990.
- Managers and Leaders: Are They Different?, Abraham Zaleznik, Harvard Business Review, Managers as Leaders, P.13-23 May - June 1977.
- The Discipline of Innovation Peter F. Drucker, Harvard Business Review, August 2002, pg 95 -102, 2003.
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