The business sector in today’s society is increasing rapidly, and with this
increase comes the need for more people to 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 two? Can
people be trained to become leaders or a managers? Just like many other
questions that might be asked in business; these questions have no one, definite
answer. Let’s begin first by acknowledging the definitions of the two root
words; the word manage means to handle, where as the word lead means to go.
Similarly as the two words have different definitions, they also have different
purposes. To help individuals increase their potentials in business, an
internationally recognized motivational speaker by the name of Marc Sanborn has
developed certain “theories” that, much like in science or art, prove some
things to be more true than others by providing supporting facts to prove the
validity of certain ways of thinking. Many of Marc’s theories validate the fact
that in general, good managers tend to be good leaders, but good leaders are not
always good managers. It is 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 Marc 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. Marc states “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. Marc suggests people start from the end and work backwards, or think
to themselves “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 is the approach in visioning that separates managers from
leaders. - 1 - Visioning however is not the only method that separates managers
form leaders. The different strategies used by managers and leaders in terms of
their use of human resources can also differentiate for us the major factors
that influence each position. Marc defines this as stewardship. Managers are
required to monitor, supervise, and get tasks done in a certain amount of time.
Managers have to be efficient, and thus time is the most important human
resource for them. By improving their efficiency, managers can improve their
managerial success. Leaders, on the other hand, must strategically use not only
their time, but energy as well. Thus, leaders should use their energy
efficiently because there is only a certain amount of tasks that can be done in
one day. By using these resources strategically, leaders can also efficiently
use the time and energy of others. Marc states “Managers try to put more time
into life, whereas leaders try to put more life into their time”. Leaders must
carefully plan out strategies they will use to accomplish given tasks because
strategy is not the consequence of planning, but the opposite: its starting
point. Understanding that managers and leaders have different strategic
approaches in utilizing their human resources shows that it is the approach that
separates one from the other. It is evident that by visioning the appropriate
outcome and by using our human resources purposefully we can reach our goals
efficiently. However, what good are the two if you are not focused on the right
thing?
