Every organization needs a diverse group of people contributing in different roles & capacities in order for things to move forward. While some roles have clear boundaries, others might not be so easily defined. For any outsider, a particular post or vacancy might seem attractive without getting to know the rather intricate day to day aspects of that particular position. Hence, when choosing a career, make sure to do enough research. However, challenges faced by each individual in the same capacity varies from industry to industry.
Whether you are a seasoned businessman or an entrepreneur, you need to be good at both managing and leading your team, in order for them to follow your company’s vision. Both a leader and a manager are responsible of performing mainly the following four tasks; Planning, Organizing, Leading and Monitoring.
What makes leader stand out is their uncanny ability to demonstrate a perfect balance between what needs to done for driving productivity within a schedule (for a project/s) and what needs to be done to meet the business goals. According to Vance Packard (American author); Leadership is an art of ensuring your team does something you are convinced should be done.
In almost all organizations, leadership focuses on practices that helps to inspire and empower its workforce and also pay attention to employee satisfaction. Whereas the managers facilitate a project, makes sure its completed within the given schedule while facilitating the communication within the team. So what makes them stand out from one another.
A leader would be a person having a definitive vision of where to go and how to articulate the vision into a reality while leading the team. A manager maintains the bottom line, with the already established ground rules in order to tackle any chaos within a team in an organization
One of the most important skill set for any leader would be their ability to communicate about goals, responsibility, expectations in an effective manner. A manager on the hand molds a team and manages it through various aspects of pay, placement and promotion.
The leader will share their pitfalls, highlight their experiences and guide the team to clarify their doubts. A manager will oversee the responsibilities for a new role or project given to their team, and how to efficiently tackle difficult situation while carrying out the tasks.
An organization will require both leader and manager to run smoothly, but a good manager and leader both requires certain experience in terms of strategic decision making, fair amount of inspiration, balance of power and ethical behavior. The bottom line being both these roles should contribute effectively to achieve organizational goals and harmony in the best of their capacity.
