Managers Vs Leaders

Last time I had this in our class we had a great debate regarding this idea MANAGERS vs LEADERS. As the businesses now a days are battling for success and dominance, comes the need for the business owners to hire people who can manage and lead the growing companies, but this growing need also raises some potential questions: Can anyone become a leader or a manager? Is there a difference between the Managers and Leaders? Can people be trained to become leaders or managers? Just like many other questions that might be asked in business; these questions have no definite answer. But before we go into details about Manager and Leader let's begin first by acknowledging the definitions of the two root words; the word manages means to handle, where as the word lead means to go. Similarly as the two words have different definitions, they also have different purposes. Some said, "Any company that cannot imagine the future won't be around to enjoy it." Therefore before any manager or leader can affect changes in their business they have to do what describes as visioning; they must mentally look into what they want to see as the potential outcome of any given situation.

Managers are concerned with the problem at hand. They focus on what has to be done. Leaders on the other hand, notice what has to be done, but spend their time figuring out how to get it done. Managers vision the destination; leaders vision how to get there. To be an effective leader it is important to focus on the gritty details of a situation, look for opportunities and how to achieve them. Visioning cannot be taught but can be developed. Suggests people start from the end and works backwards, or thinks to them "what will this team accomplish because of me?" Leadership is all about taking an organization to a place it would not have otherwise gone without you, in a value-adding, measurable way. When you vision, you think your way into a situation and it... Leadership can be seen as performing the influencing function of management, largely involved in goals setting and motivating people to achieve them. Leaders decide ‘where we are going’ and influence people to take that particular direction, rather than describe ‘how we are going to get there’. Inspired leaders are not necessarily good organizers and excellent managers. The most effective managers are also leaders, and the quality of leadership has become and increasingly important part of management ability.

“Managers are people who do things right and Leaders are people who do the right things”

Being a leader requires having passion, authenticity, integrity, and ethics as the foundation to become an effective leader upon which we lay the basis to bring out change. And these are personal choices, not simply what we come to know by studying about leaders.

Ok. Let’s ask our selves, what is our role in our institution we are currently connected right now? Are we a leader or a manager? In answering this, let’s not forget being a Leader or a Manager doesn’t attach to a particular position. It means it’s somewhat a characteristic of you. Are we a person that do the things right?! Or a we a person that always find a new ways to do the things right.

I think these two characteristics cannot be compare which is better because these two characteristics have two different task and responsibility to take care of. Rather than finding what is better between the two I think it is nice to make these two as a compliment characteristic to make us a better employee in our Institution today. So simply, become a Manager in your respective departments or sections and be a leader for your co-office mates and co-workers (Easier said than done :).

But now a days we are so busy in our personal life as well as to our busy schedule in work, we have a little time to take some new or try to implement innovations in our respective institutions unless it requires to do so. So being a manager and a leader is in you, its about your willingness to become a leader or a manager. Even in our busy schedule lets not still forget our responsibility to contribute in the development of our institutions. Every little thing we do it helps.