Thoughts from "The Kid": Contrast between Manager and Leader

Hi everyone, because this is my first LinkedIn article, I thought I'd give a pretty short intro. I'm not, just a young engineer surviving in the field of Systems Engineering. I pay attention to those leads from before me and strive to learn from them as much as I'm able. However, I'm also not a blind follower of anyone, I have been gifted (as every human should have been) the ability to think for myself, and the statement that we should something some way "because it has always been done that way" does not interest me one bit.

I need to know WHY?! From this, I have developed methodologies within the field of Model Based Systems Engineering geared towards fixing problems and enabling reuse, modularity, and full traceability, not because I'm better than anyone else, but because I've been paying attention, soaking as much up from the leaders of the field like Sandy Friedenthal, Lenny Deligatti, Mike Vinarcik, Saulius Pavalkis, and many others, which has enabled me to possess an objective view and take the best parts from each while discarding those that seem to be "clunky" in layman's terms. I do have a habit of enjoying to toss a grenade into a pot to see what happens, as such we will start my first article off with a "bang".

Often times managers and leaders are incorrectly deemed synonyms. However, that cannot be further from the truth. Sure, both take a position of authority and guide others, but the methods through which a "leader" and a "manager" provides such guidance are vastly different.

Peter Economy from Inc.com defines the five qualities of a good leader to be clarity, decisiveness, courage, passion, and humility. The leader must ensure that his message, goals, and processes are clear, but also must be willing to take in feedback from his/her team to ensure that he is objective, and that any biases he/she has, have a filtering mechanism. The leader must be a decision maker, nothing cripples a team more than a "wishy-washy" authority figure who will not stand firm on a decision. He/she must have courage and be willing to carry the team forward, often in an uphill battle, with other management to ensure that the team does the best of their ability to do the right thing the first time. The Leader must have passion in the area he/she leads. He/She does not have to be the top expert in the team, but he/she does need to be willing to research, learn, and be an active cog in the wheel not only within an organization, but within the community on the topic he/she leads. And finally, the leader must be humble. He/she is not responsible for all of the teams success. Often times the round-table approach to leadership provides significant value as success is a team effort after all, and individuals should be recognized for their hard work in accomplishing success for the overall team.

A manager; however, is defined by Oxford as "a person responsible for controlling or administering all or part of a company or similar organization." The manager's role is to control the team and to obtain success from them. They don't necessarily have to lead from the trenches, but they are judged on the success that they can get from their team, by any means necessary. Managers apply a specific kind of style, and this style will either result in the success or failure of the team. Some managers use incentive-based management (e.g. bonuses, higher salaries) to drive their teams, others are more authoritarian and micro-manage the team forcing them to be successful, and a final example is more of a laissez-faire style where they let the team run themselves and take credit for any success the team produces.

What we see is management and leadership are not exactly the same thing. Sure, both require an individual to take a role of authority to guide a team to success, but just because one is a manager does not equate them to be a leader. Can a manager be a leader, sure, but it requires the humanity of the manager to come out and forces them to connect to their team in ways many managers are not capable of.

Now it is time for the hard pills to swallow:

1. When was the last time you checked in with each of the members of your team?
2. Do you know the struggles your team faces daily?
3. Do you provide guidance and support for your team when they struggle to produce expected results?
4. Do you know the names of your team's kids, roughly their ages, and anything else about your team's private life that may have an impact on their performance?
5. If a team member was dealing with a personal struggle, would you reach out to them out-of-hours to ensure that they were mentally okay, ignoring the impact their issue may have on the bottom-line?
6. If your team was struggling to meet the target you set for them, would you be willing to jump into the trenches and lead them into success, even if it required additional overtime from you, or would you force them to work the needed overtime until they were successful?

Hopefully these questions help you consider your management styles and guide you to becoming a good leader. Just because you've been given a management position, doesn't mean that your team would "follow you to the ends of the earth". Remember "employees leave bad managers", they don't just leave good leaders.