Leadership vs Management

Traits of a Manager:
A manager ensures that his organization’s established policies, procedures, and values are understood and achieved by all people under his direct supervision. Managers spend very little time developing their people or finding safer and more efficient ways of completing tasks.
If a company’s policies, procedures, and values are clear enough, virtually anyone can be a manager.

Traits of a Leader:
A leader has the same qualities as a manager but he also has an additional set of skills that a manager has yet to develop:

• Vision: A leader is always looking for improvement opportunities within every level of his organization. If the leader does not have the authority to act on an improvement opportunity, he seeks out someone who can.

• Development: A leader develops his employees by rewarding them with increasing levels of responsibility as they become more competent, but he always remains accountable for the results.

• Respect: The golden rule comes into account here, “treat others as you would expect to be treated”. Where leaders are selfless, managers are often selfish caring only about what is in it for them.

• Trust: Trust is earned over time. Leaders eventually earn the trust of their peers by sticking to their word, admitting when they have made a mistake, and being honest in their relationship with others.

• Purpose: Leaders instill a sense of purpose in their subordinates by reinforcing the importance of their job as it relates to the organization. Having to do something just for the sake of doing it is never a productive use of anyone’s.

Anyone can be a manager, but it takes a person of integrity, insight, and motivation to be a leader.