Beyond the leader vs manager comparison
We have spent the better part of the past decade reading and listening to the leader vs manager comparison — how one fare over the other, how both styles are required etc. etc. You still can’t scroll down the LinkedIn feed without stumbling upon a quote glorifying leadership over managing — shared mostly by someone not in a leadership role or by a leadership trainer (quite the match I would say).
But what exactly is leadership? is it only about leading a team? What exactly is a leader leading towards? Is there a shift needed in your thinking when you transition from an operational role to a leadership role? Are leaders born or can they be made? Is there a science to leadership?
At most, leading a team is only 50% of being a leader but is probably the part which gets the most fanfare. But there is another aspect to leadership which is equally or more important than your ability to work a team — that is knowing what the heck you are leading towards and what boundaries you have!
A leader should know or be able to figure out how to get to the point he wants to be at — how to realize the vision. Setting your own boundaries and rules in that journey. To be able to do so requires a crucial change in the mindset of an individual who transition into a leadership role from an operational role — to be the one who makes the critical decisions at the critical moments. That’s easier said than done and requires experience, confidence and a good awareness of multi dimensional risks.
At an operational role, though you may have some level of autonomy, more often than not, you are driven by objectives that someone sets. You are told what your KPIs are and what the expectation on your role are. You can safely expect to be told if there’s a change in those expectations. These objectives and expectations forms your operational boundary. You will collaborate with others, make decisions and execute within the operational boundary that’s set upon your role — rarely beyond.
The role Manager is also an operational role — the manger role too has an operational boundary set by someone else. A manager uses the operational framework set upon the bounded context to drive objectives within that context. That’s why the managers deal with the triple constraints — scope, schedule and cost.
The role Leader is expected to establish it’s own boundary in realizing a vision or an abstract goal. There is no one that would tell a leader who the stakeholders are and what their expectations are or how he/she should spend the budget in order to achieve the results. Transformation of the vision or abstract goal to concrete objectives and KPIs, prioritizations, compromises, expectation management, delivering ROI to budget owners AND leading a team towards achieving all that should fall within this boundary that’s to be established. For someone who is trained to fit into an operational boundary that’s set for them, it is a major shift in mindset to move into a leadership role. All the focus on leader vs manager comparison is not helping them in any shape or form.
Natural leaders are those who are comfortable establishing their own boundaries and who has the self confidence to make critical decisions without guidance. More often than not, it’s part of their upbringing, education and culture. That’s how sports help build leadership skills but being a classroom monitor does not. That’s how the mischief becomes a good leader than the teacher’s favorite student.
The other most important part of becoming a leader is having a strong personal value system. To know what you value and not to compromise on your values regardless of the repercussions — again, something easier said than done. However, it’s easier for someone with a strong value system to make decisions than for someone who doesn’t — as a value system can serve as a framework reference in making a difficult decision. People with strong value systems are also more consistent in the way they work with and treat other people — this makes it easier for others to work with them and like them, leading to more synergy.
Knowing this change of mindset that is required, makes it possible to train individuals to become leaders — BUT, that’s not by giving someone a title or “autonomy” to make decisions within a set boundary, rather it should be to take them through the journey of setting up their own boundary, establishing objectives and KPIs and managing stakeholder expectations.
The personal values however are not something you could train a person for. They are something that the individual should establish for themselves over time. However contrary to popular belief, people can change their values over time, as values are influenced by one’s experiences and understanding of the world around them. So anyone who aspire to become a leader should really focus on their personal values and the world view as well.