What is the main difference between leadership and management? While many of you may think that these two terms mean the same thing, this is not the case. Moreover, leaders and managers can possess some very different skills and characteristics which we will cover later in this blog.

How Leadership and Management are Different. Leadership and management are often considered to have overlapping functions. While this can be true, these two terms have different meanings and shouldnt be used interchangeably. Both imply a unique set of functions, characteristics, and skills that share similarities. However, they show prominent differences in some circumstances. For example, some managers do not practice leadership, while others lead without a managerial role. A manager is generally someone who is selected or appointed within an organization. In most cases, a manager is selected based on specific technical skills, knowledge, and expertise. On the contrary, the greatest leadership skill is to influence and inspire people.

In the workplace, it is important to have both great leaders and managers. Organizations need good leaders to achieve their mission and vision. They also need good managers to ensure that things are getting done and that their teams are aligned with the companys goals.

Lets now take a look at the 5 main differences between leadership and management.

Since the start of the pandemic, the role of leaders and managers in an organization has become even more important than before. Remote work and hybrid work can make it harder to influence people, imrove employee experience, and ensure higher engagement levels.

Leaders Set the Vision, Managers Follow It

When it comes to setting and executing a companys mission and vision, managers and leaders have different roles.

Leaders are visioners. Most of them have a clear vision of where they want their organizations to be in the future. However, they themselves are not the only ones responsible for making that vision come true.

Here, managers play a crucial role. While leaders may be responsible, through efficient leadership communication, to transfer the companys mission, vision and goals to the entire organization, managers are responsible for keeping employees aligned with the core company values and goals. However, 71% of employees believe that their leaders do not spend enough time communicating goals and plans.

Even though managers are the ones who can influence people to work towards the same objectives, many employees agree that their company doesnt do a good job communicating the companys goals. Moreover, employees want and expect to be informed about how their organization is doing and where it is heading.

I think of management as working with other people to make sure the goals an organization has articulated are executed,

says HBS Dean Nitin Nohria in an interview for the online course Management Essentials.

Its the process of working with others to ensure the effective execution of a chosen set of goals. Leadership is about developing what the goals should be. Its more about driving change.

Moreover, by speaking openly about the companys goals, opportunities, and challenges, leaders are the ones who can build trust in the workplace. They can foster a productive work environment where employees feel empowered to share their own ideas, needs and concerns. The more transparent leaders are, the healthier the work environment becomes.

Leaders Think Ideas, Managers Think Execution

While a managerial culture emphasizes rationality and control, leaders are more about looking for opportunities for improvement on the organizational level. They do so by coming up with new ideas and driving the shift to a forward-thinking mindset. In other words, managers always look for answers to how and when, while leaders look for answers to what and why.

Therefore, the managers main responsibility is to fulfill their tasks based on the leaders vision. Their main job is to ensure that people on different functions with different responsibilities operate efficiently, productively, and feel like they can share their voice.

They should always watch the bottom line by controlling employees and providing necessary information, processes, workflows and tools so that employees are enabled for success.

Managers relate to people according to the role they play in a decision-making process, while leaders, who are concerned with ideas, relate in more high-level but empathetic ways. The main difference is simply between a managers attention to how things get done and a leaders attention to what should be done to achieve greater results.

As leaders always look for new ideas, they can also play a crucial role in driving change within organizations. Moreover, a leader inspires positive, incremental change by empowering employees to work toward common objectives. A leaders most powerful tool for doing so is efficient communication.

Change communication messages coming from leaders should get people prepared to do things differently and give the reason why, while managers should continuously reinforce these messages. Yet, many managers are not even aware of why a change is happening.

Leaders Inspire People; Managers Drive Their Success

While leaders have a great power to inspire people, managers are responsible for driving their continuous success and positive work experience throughout employees entire career journey.

As managers account for over 70% of employees engagement in the workplace, they are also held accountable for how successful and productive their teams are.

However, when people are not inspired by what leadership has to say, there is little managers can do to help their people succeed. By developing a personal leadership style through self-reflection, authentic communication and continuous feedback, leaders can empower their workforce, get their followers attention and inspire them to pursue important organizational initiatives.

Studies show that employees feel less stressed and under pressure when they have the opportunity to engage with the leaders regularly. Moreover, leadership has a great power to impact employee engagement.

Employees work more effectively within workplaces that support honest, open and transparent communication. Yet, many organizations still neglect the importance of two-way communication between leaders and employees. Instead, the information flows one way, and employees dont have the opportunity to join company-wide conversations.

Leaders Look in the Future, Managers Work In the Present

One of the main differences between leaders and managers is that leaders are more future-focused, while managers are more focused on the present.

Therefore, the managers most important goal is to achieve organizational goals by implementing processes and procedures around budgeting, organizational structuring, and staffing. On the other hand, leaders tend to think ahead and capitalize on future opportunities.

However, the leaderships vision of the future means nothing if it cant be transparently and clearly communicated to both managers and employees.

As one of the biggest drivers of employee engagement and experience in the workplace is the feeling of purpose and the alignment of employees personal and professional values, every leader should strive towards creating that sense of purpose among employees.

Leaders Shape the Culture, Managers Endorse It

When comparing leaders vs managers, its important to look at the organizations corporate culture.

Culture is a system of values, beliefs, and behaviors that shape and determine how an organization operates and how the work gets done. When organizational culture is aligned to the overall business strategy, employees and other stakeholders act and behave in ways that support and enable the achievement of business goals.

When it comes to the organizations culture, the difference between leadership and management is that leaders define and shape the culture. At the same time, the managers lead their employees to live up to that culture.

It is the leaders duty to uphold the core company values and beliefs of the organizations culture through their actions, authentic communication and their decisions. Passionate and inspiring leaders have a great power to communicate the organizational culture company-wide and influence employees behaviors.

Their skills and leadership styles have a big impact on how employees take and live that culture, while the managers role is to continuously support and endorse the culture within their teams.

Therefore, driving employees to live by the companys culture and core values is impossible without the collaboration between leadership and management.Problem-solving and decision-making: effective decision-making and problem-solving is both the managers and the leaders responsibility. While leaders may be responsible for decision making on a company-level, managers are held accountable for decision making on the team or departmental level.

• Change and crisis management: similar to decision making, leaders and managers should work collaboratively during times of change or crisis. The current world situation has taught us about the importance of agile workplace transformation and the need to quickly adapt to change. While leaders may have a better understanding of the change that needs to be implemented, managers have better knowledge around how to enable their employees to accept the change and align with it.

The Areas Where Management and Leadership Overlap

Even though the roles of leadership and management in the organization may vary, there are many areas where their duties and responsibilities overlap. The three main areas include:

• Communication: both leadership and management communication is crucial for an organizations success. As mentioned earlier, employees expect to be informed and educated about where their company stands and heading. While leadership communication should inspire people, continuous and clear management communication empowers people to do their best and build stronger relationships among teams.

1) Create a self reflection where you compare, contrast, "comment on" your style to the 7 leadership quotes highlighted.

2) Next outline a plan to develop, improve and/or enhance your leadership and management qualities and traits. Your plan should have goals with action steps for each goal, to ensure accomplishment and success. 100 points