Hone Your Leadership

Many of you have told me that you work in well-managed organizations, where results are consistently produced and objectives are usually achieved. Yet you also tell me you don’t see many leadership examples and don’t feel encouraged to hone your leadership skills. You’re frustrated because while performance is good, there are also festering problems. And while you want to develop as a leader, you’re not sure what reaction you’ll get when you raise your head and step outside your lane to do something different.

You do not imagine any of this. Management and leadership are very different things. And while both are important to a well-functioning organization and need to co-exist in such an organization, the habits of management often cut against and discourage the practices of leadership.?

In my first job in a big corporation, I had a customer with a big problem. We didn’t have a solution for it. My managers advised me to concentrate my energies on what we could do rather than what we didn’t know how to do. While the potential reward was bigger if we solved the customer’s big problem, the risk of failure was also real. There was the real opportunity cost of time spent on a challenging objective, while easier goals were well within reach. To solve the big problem, we both had to expend real resources in the short and medium-term and postpone the pay-off of increased revenue into the longer term. We had teams of people with defined roles who knew how to execute to achieve our annual plan. To solve this particular problem, a whole new team would have to be assembled, and new skills would need to be learned.?

In the end, we solved the customer’s problem. It took a lot of time and resources, but the pay-off was significant for this customer and?the company. Very early in my career, I learned the essential differences between management and leadership:?

1. Managers focus on what they know how to do. Leaders focus on what they need to learn how to do.
2. Managers focus on achievement in the shorter term. Leaders focus on what is necessary for the long term.
3. Managers focus on minimizing risk and achieving expected results. Leaders focus on managing risk and achieving high-performance results.
4. Managers work within existing constraints and parameters and defined roles and responsibilities. Leaders challenge the status quo in all these respects.
5. Managers can rely on process, procedure, operational plans, and controls to achieve results because all these mechanisms guide people’s behavior. Leaders must build effective teams to achieve results and guide people’s behavior by focusing on a worthy, common goal.?

Both management and leadership are necessary for any functioning organization. People need to have defined roles and responsibilities, operational controls must exist, and results must be produced in the short term. Yet, while management is necessary, it is not sufficient over the long term. Without leadership, festering problems are left unaddressed. Without leadership, opportunities are squandered. Without leadership, growth is stunted. Without leadership, the risk may be minimized, but high-performance is lacking.?

If you want to hone your leadership skills in an organization where management is solid and effective, don’t play at leadership. Make it count. Select a problem that is worth solving or an objective worth achieving. Don’t underestimate the risks involved or the resources required. Be forthright about them - both to yourself and others. Don’t be a solitary hero. Build alliances and recruit a team.