Are you a Leader Manager or Manager Leader?

I was thumbing through John Adairs book ‘100 Greatest Ideas For Effective Leadership and Management’ (as I often do) and on reaching page 33 I reflected on how fundamentally important it is that  you know the difference between a Leader and a Manager. Both roles are critical to the organisation but are very different.

The Leader

If you are inspiring your team with your vision, clarifying their purpose, stimulating heart and soul, motivating team work, facilitating change, providing an example, and delivering a personal output you can confirm to yourself that you are performing as a Leader.

The Manager

Alternatively, you could be concentrating on keeping your Business in a ‘steady state’, supervising the day-to-day admin, establishing systems, organising structures, applying financial methods, caring for the bodies and minds of your Team. If this is you, then you are a Manager.

John Adair goes on to say “Both sets of skills are essential. You have to be a Manager-Leader or a Leader-Manager depending on your specific role and/or level of responsibility in the organisation.”

Those that are truly leading with their team members managing the businesses day to day stuff  have, in my experience, established a much stronger basis for growth and  a successful career in business.