Leadership vs Management

Is There a Difference?

H. A. G. Longstaff

THE TERMS ‘MANAGER’ AND ‘LEADER’ ARE OFTEN USED INTERCHANGEABLY. Yet while there are some similarities, the reality is that there are important differences.

We see a lot of management.  The School is managed.  Companies are managed.  Management seems necessary and responsible, building competence towards a risk-adjusted view of what can prudently be achieved.  All very sensible.

But US General Colin Powell posits the need to go beyond what is sensible:

“Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.”

Management, unfortunately, does not ensure imagination, creativity or ethical behaviour in guiding destinies, be they corporations, governments or even schools.  Leadership does.

The Harvard Business Review has identified three key differences:

1.      Vision vs process:  with leaders defining the vision and managers designing the process.

2.      Organising vs aligning: with leaders defining the ‘light on the hill’ and gaining emotional commitment, and managers organising the detail.

3.      Position vs quality:  with managers gaining status through position or job title, but leaders can be anywhere in the organisation.

Leadership, of course, seems like the vastly preferable pathway.  After all, who doesn’t want to be the ‘leader’?

But the Australian Defence Force (ADF), in a 2021 paper, ‘ADF Leadership’, makes it clear that leadership is by far the harder path.

Military leadership is forged, not in a comfortable office or Parliament House, but with a junior leader not much older than senior Shore boys who is probably tired, scared and uncomfortable operating in an environment of incomplete information and moral ambiguity.  So, the ADF puts a lot of time into leadership.

The ADF defines leadership as:

“Leadership is an affair of the heart. And of the mind. Guided by character.

It is the spirit that develops people, builds teams and gets results. It is an interplay of emotions, feelings, attitudes and values. It involves being able to understand what followers need, being able to predict how they will react, and inspiring them towards achieving a common goal.

We define it as the art of positively influencing others to get the job done.”

The ADF suggests you need three elements to be a successful leader:

1.      Character:  Character is who you are when no one is watching.  It requires:

a.  Courage:  both physical and moral.

b.   Integrity: an honest and ethical intent, the vital component to establishing trust.

c.      Respect:  a two-way recognition of the value of everyone that can only ever be earned.

2.      Professional competence:  the inescapable requirement that the leader knows their job better, works harder and continually strives to improve.

3.      Human understanding:  understanding your inspiration, motivation and influences, and those of your team.

The path of a leader is the harder path to walk.  Will you take this path, or the path more travelled?