Ever heard the saying, ‘leaders are born rather than made’? Fortunately, leaders come in all shapes and sizes, and so it may be the person working behind the counter at your local store, the leader of a youth group or local gang, the chief executive of a large organisation, or your operations supervisor at a manufacturing firm.
All these leaders in some way influence or exert power. As management expert John Kotter asserts, management and leadership are two different but closely related concepts. He suggests that management is more about tactics and means, whereas leadership is more about strategy and ends. However management and leadership have to be in harmony or balance.
Let’s have a closer look at these two concepts, and consider… do you demonstrate in your business or your team, parts of each?
If you are stronger on management than leadership, then there will be a strong emphasis on short timeframes, details, risk elimination and scrupulous rationality, with little focus on the long term and big picture, and your business or organisational responses will tend to be rigid, not innovative and thus you will be resistant to dealing with changes in the markets and competitive or, technological environments.
On the other hand, if you are stronger on leadership than management, then there will be a strong long-term vision without short-term planning and budgeting, there will be an almost cult-like environment without much specialisation, structure and rules, and there will be an increasing number of situations that eventually get out of control, which will threaten the existence of the business or organisation.
Returning to the statement, as to whether leaders are born….This is based in the ‘trait theories’ of leadership, which has it that inborn traits or characteristics mark some out, but not others. The ‘traits’ that may be seen as desirable in a leader, such as extroversion, verbal fluency, physical fitness, aggressiveness, tallness, intelligence and weight/muscle/fat distribution. As most of us are aware, trait theory died in the 19th century….or somewhere around then…however, some people still insist on trying to revive this theory.
Despite this brief explanation, you may still be unsure of whether you are a manager or, a leader. …alternatively, you may even be unsure where your colleagues or, even you boss sits with the two concepts.
Workstyle profiling is a very useful tool for gaining an insight into how people prefer to work, as individuals and in a team environment, as a leader and/or manager. A DISC Profiling report provides the full profile analysis for the individual. It describes the person’s Preferred Workstyle Behaviour, how the person may modify this behaviour for success in the workplace and how the person is likely to respond in situations of extreme pressure.
If you would like to learn more about your management or leadership style, go to our web site, www.pinnaclebusiness.com.au click on ‘Consulting Services’ and ‘individual and team profiling’, or send me an email.
