Are You a Leader or a Manager? You Need to Be Both

Anyone can be a leader and a manager.

You will have to be both a leader and a manager in your work; choosing when to switch roles is the trick.

Managers optimize the organization and its people to meet strategic goals.

Leaders drag the organization and its people kicking and screaming into a strategic future.

In the classic Harvard Business Review article “What Leaders Really Do,” author John Kotter asserts that “most U.S. corporations today are over-managed and under-led.” He explains that leadership is different from management, but not for the reasons most people think.

Leadership isn’t mystical and mysterious, nor is it necessarily better than management or a replacement for it. Rather, leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary systems of action. According to Kotter, each has its own function and characteristic activities. What’s more both are necessary for success in today’s business environment.

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Kotter goes on to explain that management is about using processes and procedures to cope with the complexity of large organizations. By contrast, leadership is about coping with change—a growing concern as the business world responds to rapid tech advancements, a more global economy, and generally becomes more competitive and volatile.

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Bottom line: more change always demands more leadership. And Kotter says that most U. S. corporations today need to develop their capacity to exercise leadership. He is quick to remind, though, that while improving their ability to lead, companies should also remember that strong leadership with weak management is no better. The real challenge is to combine strong leadership and strong management and use each to balance the other.

Enter the ATD Certificate in Strategic Leadership, a program geared to help you grow your leadership competence. Through assessments, simulations, role play, and individualized feedback, discover how to create your personal leadership style, influence team members, and build relationships across organizations. Specifically, you will learn how to:

-cultivate your leadership self-awareness to motivate and lead others through change and uncertainty

-develop your collaboration skills so you can leverage relationships for improved performance

-apply techniques that effective leaders use in coaching and mentoring teams, and individuals, to reach high levels of engagement.

SOURCE: https://www.td.org/