How To Balance Leadership And Management

by Leif Babin

Leadership is the most important factor in whether or not a team succeeds or fails. It brings together a diverse group of people with different skill sets and agendas to work together, mutually supporting one another to accomplish a goal. But as leaders, there are also administrative functions that must be performed.

Good leaders can’t neglect the management skills required to ensure their teams are properly compensated, documentation is in order, and the team has the resources it needs to be successful. Sometimes, leaders struggle to determine how to balance leadership and management skills. The reality is that good leaders must become proficient in the management skills necessary for their teams' success.

How the SEAL Teams Taught Me This Important Balance

As a U.S. Navy SEAL platoon commander, I struggled with understanding what balanced leadership is. I wanted to focus on planning and leading combat operations on the battlefield. Yet I also had to ensure we maintained proper serialized inventories of the expensive and sensitive weapons, ammunition, radios, night vision, and gear for which we were responsible.?I had to make sure that the platoon properly maintained that gear.

Even while deployed to a combat zone, I had to write administrative evaluations for each of my SEALs to ensure their performance was documented and they would be eligible for promotion. For stand out performance, I had to make sure that the extensive paperwork required was properly completed for the U.S. military to approve awards that recognized their exceptional contributions. As a leader, I would have preferred to focus on just the leadership aspects of my job. But through this experience, I came to understand what balanced leadership is. Had I neglected my management skills, I would have failed my team and failed as a leader. This is the difficulty in examining how to balance leadership and management. You can’t neglect one over the other. You must find balance and become competent at both.

As a leader, I would have preferred to focus on just the leadership aspects of my job... Had I neglected my management skills, I would have failed my team and failed as a leader.

Some leaders are proficient in leadership but not in management. For others, it is the opposite. So how does balancing roles impact leadership?

Conclusion

Good leaders are able to conduct an honest assessment of themselves and recognize their own strengths and weaknesses. Recognizing what balanced leadership is, a good leader seeks support by teaming up with others who possess the skill sets where they are weak. In this way, they complement each other and still accomplish the mission. This allows leaders to learn leadership or management skills from those who are more proficient in these areas. Leaders can help each other and complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses for the good of the team and the mission.