What’s More Important – Managing or Leading?

I have written several blog posts about the differences between leading people and managing things. This post is a summary of the series where we highlight our conclusion that BOTH leadership AND management are necessary to produce healthy and thriving organizations.

Both/And

Regardless of title or job position, I have found that we all wear two hats. One is a leadership hat and one is a management hat.

People tend to wear one hat more than the other, we call that a bent or bias toward either managing or leading.

You can discover which hat is more comfortable for you by downloading my no-cost Managing and Leading Assessment.

When we wear our leadership hat, our focus is on people (Relationships). When we wear our management hat, our focus is more on things (Results).

Insight:  The more you elevate relationships, the more you will benefit from the improved results that only a truly valued and united TEAM can deliver!

Throughout this series, I’ve talked about the advantages of building and enhancing your workplace relationships.

I can imagine what many of you are thinking right now. You’re thinking, “I do listen to and respect my people. I really value their input.”

That is exactly what I thought about my own leadership for many years. And I, like you, sincerely thought I was doing well in the “relationship” department.

A Surprise

Here’s what happened. Through an anonymous 360 degree evaluation, I learned that many of those around me thought I could significantly improve in this area!

The Truth

I learned that while I was sincere, I was incorrect in my thinking! I did need to improve in this important area of leading people.

You see:

I did interact with our employees in a nice and courteous way. I was respectful and would listen if they wanted to communicate something to me.

But, I did not really seek, listen to and learn from my people’s insights and advice.

^“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”  Philippians 2:3-4 NIV

Knowing to Doing

After I realized that I needed to make some changes, I learned several practical ways to move my leadership from “just knowing” to doing.

I developed methods and techniques that truly strengthened our workplace relationships.

This intentional focus on people, in turn, created a dynamic TEAM that achieved the results that I had always desired.

Insight:  I learned that there is a big difference between being nice and being an effective leader.

Effective leaders allow (and even train) their people to learn and grow and contribute to the organization in meaningful ways.

How about you?

By now you may be wondering if you should make some changes to your own thoughts and actions.

If you are like me, you have some room for improvement!

Here is a simple, but effective way to show your people that you deeply value them:

Decision-making

One of the most powerful changes that I made was how I made decisions that would broadly impact an area, department or the entire company.

For these larger decisions, I started to actively seek the opinion and input of others before I made a decision.

The results were transformational. I made better decisions, and we created a TEAM that naturally felt a sense of ownership and responsibility for their contributions.

You can read about an example of this process in blog post #10 below.

The Summary

Here is a list of the blog posts that I’ve written on Managing (things) toward Results, and Leading (people) through enhanced Relationships.

1. Give Me 5 Minutes and You’ll KNOW if You’re a Leader or a Manager! – By answering seven questions, every person can better understand their life bent, their bias or leaning toward leading or managing.Leaders and managers make great teammates. They need each other. Leaders without managers cannot keep what they grow, and managers without leaders cannot grow what they keep!

2. The Truth About Leading and Managing – There are clear differences between leading and managing. By observing six examples, every leader/manager can understand the two approaches to getting things done.

3. Why Some Managers Stink – and What to do About It! – I explored why managers drive for results at the expense of relationships? Also, by asking four questions every manager can become a more effective

4. Effective Leaders Wear Two Hats – I discussed that every person can become an effective leader by embracing the two “R” factors:

• As you drive for Results,
• You also maintain and enhance Relationships

5. What Type of Manager are You? – Are you the “Taskmaster” manager or the “Country Club” manager? Because only the effective leader is the one that experience exponential results.

6. Who Are Your Leadership Role Models? – Only a few leaders become a “Level 5 Executive”, and those who have, have become great role models by embracing two paradoxical characteristics- personal humility AND professional will.

7. Learn the Two R’s of Effective Leadership – Sometimes a picture is worth 1,000 words. My “Effectiveness Quotient” graph shows the multiplicative effect that occurs when we boost our attention to Relationships while we also hold fast to our more natural focus on Results.

8. Use Leadership Math to Multiply Your Effectiveness – Every manager can increase their effectiveness by leveraging the Math of Leadership. Are you getting results by addition or multiplication?

9. Do you lead followers or leaders? – What motives support our tendency to lead FOLLOWERS rather than LEADERS? Every leader can experience extraordinary results by incorporating one key component into their leadership: participative-style leadership.

10. Participative Management Style – The real question is NOT, “have you developed a TEAM?, but… “Do you have individuals on a team or a TEAM of individuals?

11. Do You Focus on Efficiency or Effectiveness? – Efficiency and effectiveness represent two viewpoints that are useful to leaders and managers. While they sound similar, they mean different things.Every leader and manager can achieve greater success by viewing matters through the lenses of efficiency and effectiveness.
12. The Secret Sauce for Success – For years, I have been asked about the secret to my success. I share my secret in this post, and explain how you can adopt the same approach in your journey to success!

What is your bent? Is it managing or leading? You can find out now! Simply download your own copy of my Managing and Leading Assessment by <clicking here>. It takes less than five minutes to complete. 

Do you want extraordinary results? Are you ready to increase your relationship skills along with your drive for results? Could you share your comments <here> and share this blog post with a friend and/or co-worker?