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Privacy Policy for leadershipormanagement.blogspot.com

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Leadership or Management – What Does it Take?

Leadership is drawing or guiding others by influencing their behavior. Leadership’s main purpose is to cope with change. Leaders influence behavior in many ways and styles, depending on their own personality. Good leadership brings out the best in people by treating them as complete individuals, rather then merely employees. Management, on the other hand, refers to the government or administration of project affairs. Management’s main purpose is to deal with complexity. Tracking progress, reporting status, conducting meetings, maintaining a budget, setting objectives and providing performance reviews are examples of management-oriented tasks. Good management emphasizes rationality and control in bringing discipline and order to the complexity inherent in today’s global business environment.

Although management and leadership are different, they complement one another: leadership allows the Agile Manager to influence people and direct their behavior towards desired outcomes, and management allows her to organize the project and manage its complexity. This complementary balance is illustrated in the adjacent figure (Adapted from Bellinger 2004).

Leadership and management skills are both equally important for the Agile Manager to cultivate. Without management, leadership falls victim to complexity. Leaders who do not employ good management expose their teams to things like the lack of proper coordination, insufficient reporting procedures and inadequate planning. Management without leadership falls victim to a loss of soul. Managers who do not lead may not be able to jell their teams, communicate effectively with them and connect enough with individuals at a personal level to motivate them.

Taken together, the combined requirements for leadership and management might seem extremely daunting. Fortunately, although the Agile Manager’s role is pivotal, it does not mean that she is the sole leader on the project.

Management versus Leadership

Here are my thoughts (these + $4.99 = cup of coffee)

• Let’s stop badmouthing management because management is what actually gets results.  It is certainly not sexy or trendy but management where “it” happens and “it” produces bottom line results
• No one gets to be a leader 100% of the time.  In fact, no one really gets to be a leader much more than 10%-15% of the time.  (They are busy managing the other 90% 0f their day)
• Leadership, if done correctly, will require you to give of yourself and what you give you can not get back.
• Most of the time, leadership sucks!  The reason?  As opposed to management (when you give direction), leading is essentially selling your vision.  This means you constantly have to reinforce your vision to those who sign to follow.  Everyone gets really jazzed at first but when the actual work starts to make the vision a reality, people can become disillusioned and need re-energized, re-focused, and re-everything else.  This is where you have to give, give, give, give until it hurts.  In the meantime, who is giving to you?

Here is the big news (drumroll………..) Management is WHAT we do & Leadership is HOW we do it.  Not all that exciting is it?  Leadership is not a job or title, it is a state of mind that can be applied in any situation at any time…if you choose.  There will be many leadership “opportunities” during the course of any given day.  Our challenge is to not be so focused on managing the work, that we fail to see them. 

Leadership is really an add-on that isn’t in anyone’s job description but something no one can stop you from doing.  That’s the irony!  So many classes, consultants, books, and so on on leadership when it really is just about placing yourselve in a position to serve others.  No fanfare, no accolades, simply reaching out and acting in a way that causes others to pause and consider their own actions in context of what they just saw.  Perhaps the best definition of leadership I ever read was, “The ability to inspire self-motivation in others” 

Left-Brain Staff Management Strategies for Right-Brain Firms

The business models of many design firms and creative groups are often heavily driven by right-brain approaches, based on intuitive, emotional staffing decisions. While this approach can have immediate success in the short run, it often comes at the risk of long-term sustainability and growth.

The misconceived notion is that left-brain business models (logical thinking, planning and analysis) take the place of and ultimately sacrifice creativity and passion. Yet with the right amount of rigorous planning, a creative team with left-brain skills can function more efficiently and produce innovative solutions. Creative firms that develop organizational strategies, systems and tools for staff management that are customized to their unique needs ensure an organizational structure that leverages each employee’s particular skill set and salary level, while at the same time improving overall morale and productivity. 

 LEADERSHIP VS. MANAGEMENT
Two of the most important functions to consider when developing your group’s organizational structure are those of leadership and management. In a small business or department, one person is often thrust into the position of both leader and manager. Yet there is an inherent difficulty in blending and balancing these two very different roles, which require distinct and innate skill sets.

The infamous expression “a fish rots from the head down” succinctly summarizes what happens when a leader is ineffective. The leader’s primary role is that of the team visionary, shaping goals that influence behaviors. Leaders champion both clients and staff alike, exerting influence and taking initiative. Stephen Covey put it best in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” Without strong, visionary leadership, the success of an otherwise great team can be significantly impacted.

Alternatively, a manager’s role is to implement and achieve the vision and goals clearly developed by the leader. Managers support and guide change, measure results and assess performance. They teach, educate and mentor the team … while the leader inspires. Both parties must perform their function by example.

In developing an effective organizational structure, the lead­ership and management roles must be considered. Who on your team has the necessary passion, personality and skills to assume these roles? Understandably, on a small team, one person may have to assume both, but larger teams should identify or recruit staff to assume these roles. A strong creative organization needs to have internal capabilities in both leadership and management in the long run.

 

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Another feature of a successful organization is a well-crafted, visionary management model that accommodates current needs but also considers future growth for the group. Figure 1 is a management maturity chart that reflects five different organizational models for creative teams:

● Informal/ad hoc
● Collaborative/flat management
● Structured management
● Visionary leadership
● Optimized leadership

Ultimately, each creative organization may fit somewhere between these descriptions, and each structure has advantages and disadvantages. Nonetheless, it is important for every organization to recognize where it is and where it wants to be to begin implementing changes that allow it to get there. 

Fig. 2
Four features differentiate the levels within these organizational models:

● The first feature is the role the owner/principal/director has within the organization. This is the critical area differentiating larger teams from smaller teams. At the informal/ad hoc level, the owner/principal/director is not able or willing to remove himself or herself from hands-on design development. Delegation may be difficult at an organizational level (e.g. the size of the team) or at more personal level (their own inherent passions, or the “no one can design as well as me” issue of control). As you begin to climb the organizational model, delegation becomes slowly more possible, and, at the optimized state, the team ultimately func­tions independently of the owner entirely.

● Emphasis placed on account/client management, business and new business development, as well as project and process management are the second and third aspects that differentiate each level. At the optimized level, each of these functions is assigned to full-time staff dedicated to these roles; and, at the informal/ad hoc level, attention to these functions is sporadic and unstructured.

● The final distinguishing feature is the role that bookkeeping and financial management have within an organization. Often, at the informal level, bookkeeping is rudimentary and done by someone untrained, typically the owner (or the owner’s spouse) or an administrative assistant. Emphasis and focus on both short-and long-term financial management and leadership grows slowly as the organization develops and builds stronger internal resources dedicated to managing the financial health of the organization.

 

INTERNAL ROLES & ATTRIBUTES
In evaluating creative organizations, there are several critical roles that need to be fulfilled to ensure all areas of a creative business are well managed. These roles include:

● Business leader
● Creative leader
● New business leader
● Operations management
● Financial management
● Administrative
● Creative
● Production/programming/execution

In a small firm, one person may have to fulfill many or most of these roles, while larger firms have dedicated staff assigned to each responsibility. Some of the roles are self-explanatory (financial management, administrative, creative and production/programming/execution), while others (business leader, creative leader, new business leader and operations management) are often overlooked or undervalued. The latter roles are worthy of further explanation.

At the foundation of any great organization is a strong, skilled business leader. This individual directs the organization’s over­all strategy and visionary direction and sets goals for development and growth. Those at this level often have titles such as principal, director or president.

In partnership with the business leader, the creative leader supports the organization’s vision and directs overall creative development of all or select clients/accounts. Those in this position have titles such as principal, creative director and art director.

The next role is that of the new business leader. Leading and managing marketing and public relations efforts are often less emphasized. Yet focusing on this area is another important factor in the health of any successful organization. Staff allocated to this role often include account executives, the director of new business development or a communications director. 

Fig. 3

The role that wins the award for most-ignored and devalued position is that of the operations manager—often called an account manager, project manager, studio manager or managing director. Operations management is actually the most complex role. Those assigned to it are responsible for envisioning and managing each project schedule and managing its impact on staffing (availability and morale) and facilities (space and equipment), as well as ensuring that internal/external budgets and schedules are adhered to by staff, clients and external allies. The operations manager often works directly with clients to develop estimates, project schedules and scope-of-work management.

In addition to the roles outlined above, many organizations need to look for other essential attributes from individuals within their team:

● Cheerleader
● Industry activist
● Tech guru
● Bad guy/enforcer
● Emotional quarterback

The cheerleader brings humor, energy and an engaging presence to the office, keeping everyone creative, informed and excited about their jobs. The industry activist stays current with the latest design trends and attends industry events—and disseminates this knowledge and passion to the entire team. The tech guru hits the technology conferences and devours websites and publications dedicated to the latest updates and offerings. She may work with external IT consultants or fill that role herself.

A strong team usually has at least one individual, the bad guy/enforcer, who is able to make the tough decisions. Often, those skilled in this area are best assigned to the staff and client management role. Lastly, the most important and difficult role is that of the emotional quarterback. This individual diffuses and manages the drama associated with managing creative personalities and minimizes internal politics or conflicts.

 

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Once a creative organization has defined its management model and assessed its strengths and weaknesses, development of an organizational structure is the next step. The most successful team structure properly aligns the right people to the right tasks, based on experience, talent, personality and passion. Many firms function in a reactionary, deadline- and client-driven work environment, which results in an unplanned hiring and organizational strategy that doesn’t accommodate future growth.

A common struggle faced by many creative organizations is that, because of this unplanned environment, high-level (thus high-salary) employees assume daily design, production, client and proj­ect management responsibilities often better left to others on the team. This results in poor and unprofitable utilization of employee time and a culture that doesn’t nurture and grow new talent.

The organizational structure in fig. 2 demonstrates one successfully revised model for an 11-person firm. This structure was uniquely customized to the needs of a firm that struggled with disorganization, a confusing reporting structure, misalignment of responsibilities to skill level and many redundant roles (see fig. 3 for the original structure). The new structure takes into consideration each of the different roles outlined earlier. It was crafted to leverage existing staff, and it identifies opportunities for future hires and long-term growth.

In developing an effective organizational structure, several factors have to be considered—most importantly, the owner/prin­cipal/director’s vision, personal strengths and passions, and the type of projects/clients they work with. The best structure clearly shows roles and responsibilities, supported by well-crafted job descriptions.

Sometimes—but not always—the organization chart can indicate reporting structure. But as a firm grows larger or relies on more collaborative and flexible teams, reporting structure can be hard to visualize in an organizational chart. In these cases, well-defined processes may better define communication and reporting structure.

An organizational structure has to be flexible (and able to grow as the firm or team expands), appropriate and realistic. Creatives thrive with just the right amount of structure: enough to support, but not inhibit them.

 

MANAGEMENT TOOLS
Several must-have management tools support the well-defined organization. These include job descriptions, an employee hand­book and a procedures manual. They ensure the entire team understands the parameters and guidelines they must adhere to and be responsible for. All three documents must be written in language that is friendly and easy to understand—nothing hinders the successful adoption of guidelines more than documents that contain lengthy and difficult-to-understand legalese.

Job descriptions are often mistaken for those short, one paragraph job postings that companies write when searching for a new hire. Job postings only briefly describe a job, mostly focusing on attributes and skills required. Job descriptions are quite different and include a comprehensive bulleted list of specific responsibilities, organized by key areas—e.g., design, art direction, studio management, project/client management, production, etc. Job descriptions are an important measuring tool for performance reviews. Employee handbooks give your employees context for the benefits and expectations of their positions, and a procedures manual outlines specific guidelines for how projects and clients are managed.

 

SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT
As a design organization develops, it must adopt sustainable, long-term staffing and management strategies. Strong, profitable, creative teams are uniquely crafted to leverage both left- and right-brain skills sets. The future resists prediction, of course, and unexpected new business opportunities and staffing changes will occur. Even the best-laid plans must be revisited and adjusted to reflect the organization’s continually changing state.

Management & Leadership NOS

Management & Leadership wheel:

Here are the six key areas that form the heading for the National Occupational Standards (NOS) in Management and Leadership which break into a number of learning units in each specific area.

Management & Leadership National Occupational Standards (NOS)

These are the units that make up NOS for Management and Leadership around which organisations such as CMI and ILM build their qualifications. The standards are proven benchmarks of good practice for effective management and leadership and are continuously reviewed and updated to ensure that they remain relevant.

To view the detailed Management & Leadership NOS from the Management Standards Centre

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Action Learning:

The Action Learning Programme features the following units. It is extensively used and a well received process that helps managers and leaders solve both short and long term business issues. Action Learning is a continuous process of learning and reflection that happens with the support of a group or a "set"of colleagues, working on real issues with the intention of getting things done. It can also be used as valuable implementation follow on for the Inspirational Leadership Programme.

Organisations such as ILM and CMI use these units in the development of their qualifications.

Leadership and Management Development Programmes

John Potter specialises in creating leadership and management development programmes which both develop the quality of the management within an organisation and help create a culture shift towards more effective ways of working.
In the past decade, he has worked with themed programmes that operate with diagonal slices in the organisation (cross functional and multi-level) and also with programmes aimed at a particular operational level within the business. He has extensive experience of operating programmes at top team level, senior management, middle management and first line management levels.

John Potter seminars, speeches, workshops and talks have included the following topics:

1.    Leadership at all levels.

Leadership has traditionally been the province of those at the top of organizations.  In today's world we need leadership throughout the organization, particularly in terms of delivery at the front line, creating an effective atmosphere in the organization in terms of operational leadership and carefully thought out strategies created by the top team.

2.    Strategic leadership

For many years, it was thought that strategic leadership was the province of the gifted and that it was impossible to develop strategic leaders.  You either had strategic ability or you didn't.   We've proved that to be wrong in today's world.  Everyone has strategic ability and what is required are the situations and experiences to bring that ability to the surface.

3.    Operational and front line leadership

It's one thing to have the grand strategic plan and yet something different to be able to put that plan into action on a daily basis and ensure that the front line people in the organization are in tune with the organizational values and objectives.    Diagonal sliced course with people from several functions and several levels in the hierarchy of the organization can do much to develop the delivery effectiveness of every organization

4.    Top team leadership development

If you ask people at the lower and middle levels of organizations as to whether they think their top team acts as an effective team the answer is frequently in the negative.  Most top teams don't behave like effective teams because their work is much more ambiguous than front line work, their members are frequently guarding their ‘political turf' and the leadership needs to rotate to different individuals within the team depending on the situation.

5.    Expert negotiation skills

John Potter is an experienced negotiator and negotiation trainer with experience in commercial negotiation, property negotiation together with security situations involving hostage, kidnap and hijack situations.   He also has experience in managing critical incidents and product extortion.

And also.................

• Unlocking human potential
• Building human energy for change
• Work life balance
• Managing pressure and stress
• Developing personal impact
• Corporate culture change
• Channelling human effort
• Creating a winning team
• Riding the roller coaster of change
• Successful change leadership
• Developing corporate creativity
• Hostage, kidnap and hijack negotiation
• Handling conflict situations
• The Humourous side of Business Psychology
• The Psychology of Success
• Developing tomorrow's leaders

The Management & Leadership Conundrum

What is better for the organisation – for you to be a Manager or a Leader? Whenever this question has been posed in the multitude of workshops conducted by Louis Allen International, the response has been, overwhelmingly, in favour of “Leader”. We are obsessed with the idea of “being a leader and practicing leadership” being the best way to move ahead in an organisation.

This idea – of the leader being someone requiring special qualities – is being incessantly promoted by those, and they are legion, who subscribe to the notion. It is this false concept that has gained currency, thanks to their efforts. While the intention may to be to increase the “performing power” of the individual to whom this Gospel is being preached, its effect, more often than not, makes them less able to achieve their purpose. By shining the spotlight on a single person, leadership becomes part of the syndrome of individuality that is sweeping our world and undermines the team and the overall organisation.

The debate about whether managers and leaders are different has been going on since the late 1970’s. While some have assumed that leadership is better than management others take it to be the replacement for management.
 

John P Kotter, a Harvard Business School professor, proposes that, while management and leadership are different, they complement each other; that in our changing world, one cannot function without the other. Managers, he says, promote stability while leaders press for change. Only individuals that embrace both will succeed in an, increasingly, complex and turbulent and changing world.

The challenge one faces is to combine strong leadership and strong management in the same person, and use one to balance the other. Once the differences between the two sets of skills are understood, the task will be to develop people to provide both in an integrated manner. The two different functions – coping with complexity and coping with change, shape the activities of management and leadership.

Complexity is managed, first, by Planning – setting targets and goals for the future, establishing the detailed steps for achieving those targets and then allocating the resources to achieve the plans. In contrast, leadership for change begins by setting a direction – developing a vision for the future, Missions that will bring about the reality and the strategies to achieve it.

As the next step, Management develops the capacity to achieve the plan by Organising – developing the workflow processes, creating the organisation structure and assigning roles and responsibilities for accomplishing the objectives. The equivalent leadership activity is selecting the right people for the jobs, delegating specific responsibilities to them, communicating the plan to these people, developing in them the skills required to complete the tasks and aligning peoples goals with those of the organisation. This means communicating the new direction to key people who understand the Vision, are committed to its achievement and can create the coalitions to support its achievement.

Finally, management ensures accomplishment of the plan by Controlling – monitoring actual results those that were planned; identifying deviations; and then taking corrective actions in a planned manner to solve any identified deviations from the desired results. To achieve the vision, leadership involves decision making and problem solving, motivating and inspiring – keeping people moving in the right direction, despite major obstacles to change, by appealing to human needs, values and emotions.

It is abundantly clear that the manager’s achievements are instrumental in ensuring that the leader’s vision becomes a reality; that, in effect, the manager’s goals and objectives are the stepping-stones to bringing about the realisation of the vision over the period of the Vision. It is also seen that unless the functions of Planning, Organising and Controlling work in tandem with the function of Leading (or Leadership), goals will be accomplished more by chance, and less as a result of coordinated efforts.

Yet, the debate on leadership versus management never seems to cease nor get resolved. The reason for this is simple. There is no need to resolve this issue, or get involved in it, as there should not be a debate in the first place. A manager who cannot lead will eventually run out of steam, while a leader who does not spend adequate time and effort on the activities of planning, organising and controlling, will ultimately run out of control and stop being functional.

The two concepts of leadership and management are so intertwined that any attempt to separate the two is a self-defeating attempt, and a futile endeavour. If the aim is to make the organisation succeed, there should not be any separation between them. They are, and must be seen to be, necessarily, complementary.

In the Allen Management System (AMS) prescribed by Louis Allen International, we recognise that separating leadership from management is part of the problem most managers face. Does anyone want to work for a “manager” who does not have the right qualities of “leadership”? Such managers, often, are quite discouraging in the way they manage. What about a “leader” who doesn’t practice “management”? That can be pretty demotivating, too; such a person is quite removed from reality and unlikely to be in the know of what is happening – by way of efforts being put in, or the results being achieved, by the team.

Hence, the focus of the AMS is to produce individuals who are clear on their role as Manager-Leader and practice management as a well-integrated system, using the functions of Planning, Organising and Controlling, with Leading (or, Leadership) acting as the “glue” to keep it all together. This results in objectives being achieved through team effort with appropriate management-leadership being applied.

The goal of conscious management leaders, through the application of a systematic management practice, is to build strong organisations of qualified people who are committed and capable of achieving a shared purpose. Conscious managers – those who combine management and leadership – more effectively, balance the, sometimes, conflicting needs of customers, employees, shareholders or owners, community, and regulators. These multiple roles bring a host of opposing forces into play that conscious managers are better able to deal with.

Conscious managers tend to:

• Consciously select the style or approach appropriate for the situation
• Continuously give priority to management efforts
• Redirect their management work towards broader issues
• Provide for greater decentralisation of work, resources, information, and authority
• Avoid staying stuck in “unconscious competence” or autopilot behaviors

There is no doubt that leadership matters. And that it makes a difference. But the “leader in the spotlight”, often, takes, or, is given the credit for successful achievements at the expense of the team that achieved that success. The net effect of such recognition is a de-motivated team. Where leadership does make a difference is in the kind of leadership practiced. Is it the kind that gives rise to visions of knights riding in on white chargers? Or, the sort that adapts to the need of the situation and acts appropriately. In other words, provides just enough of the right kind of leadership. It is the second one that makes the difference.

The world has been taken over by a new aristocracy – of leaders, of the Knights on White chargers variety, who believe they are a re-incarnation of Sir Galahad, who are completely disconnected from what leadership is supposed to be all about and the teams they lead, resulting in dysfunctional teams at every level in organisations. It is time for smart organisations to put some plain, ordinary Manager–Leaders in charge, then sit back and watch the achievements accumulate!