Great comments coming in, as we continue our discussion. This is from Jim D’Wolf.
“To further muddy the waters, I have found that people who study the numbers and people who manage the people will not always share a common language or common goals.Both perspectives are equally important in managing an operation, but getting them on the same page is a challenge. It helps to define effecient as the use of resources in being effective and to define effective as the degree to which you meet or exceed the customer’s needs or requirements (George Eckes – Six Sigma).”
Jim’s comment stirs the continuing debate over the difference between managerial practices and leadership practices. In some sense, it is very simple. People do NOT want to be managed. People want direction and strategy. People want to be led. By the same token, you cannot lead a process. A process has to be managed. Manage processes, lead people.
In the end, it takes both, managerial leadership practices to make this engine run.
I agree that the debate of managing vs. leading will always be issues in any organization. My take on it is this:
Leading requires an intimacy of knowing your people, culture, core values of the organization, and needs of those you service. Balancing decisions between those informational streams and placating strategic to tactical to a day’s work in a day is difficult. It also requires giving of yourself in a servant leadership modality to be effective. Most people are not comfortable in this needed intimacy to move people via any of the above groups.
Most people are totally comfortable with managing people just like a process or an asset because it does not require as much relational transfer. Close is uncomfortable and balancing relationship and maintaining professional distance are fine lines. Until organizational cultures are geared more to leadership and the humility of being led, we will always be more comfortable with management.
In today’s world good leadership skills are a must if you want to achieve success in you life. Leadership is different from each company, some strategy works in one organization, in one time and place, may well not work in another. There are three essential factor which is very helpful to do effective leadership communication, motivation, planning. Every leader should be good in these three factors to handle their team in good manner.