What's a difference between a Manager and a Leader?

What’s really a difference between a Manager and a Leader?

Under some managers, teams seemed to flourish and achieve more with less or no stress, while under some other managers teams seemed to be constantly under stress and either didn’t achieve the expected results &/or delivered poor quality.

Also the team-members under some managers showed better retention (in the company) against the team-members under some different managers.

Do some managers keep getting bad team-members under them or is it a case of “a bad workman blames his tools”?

Being an extreme INTJ, a natural Systems-Thinker, I couldn’t help but started seeing a pattern in two kinds of managers. One kind of managers were the “Managers” while the other kind of managers were the “Leaders”! I’m enlisting here the major differences I could identify between these two types.

Managers are the Task-Masters, they want to tick-mark the task as complete.

Leaders strive to ensure the value-addition while finishing the task.

Task is a higher priority for a manager, than the people.

People is a higher priority for a leader. When people are happy and motivated, the task-completion follows is what they believe!

Leaders convert the hateful tasks into the opportunities for achievement.

The managers convert the opportunities for achievement into the hateful tasks!

Managers keep exhibiting “who’s the boss around here” by bossing around.

Leaders let everyone be boss of their own tasks!

Managers make their presence felt.

Leaders inspire the people to achieve the things and get out of their way!

Managers want to constantly prove that they are achieving the things.

Leaders know, accept and exhibit that it’s their team-members who keep achieving the things.

Managers are insecure and want to dominate their team-members.

Leaders are confident and want to empower their team-members.

Managers want to hire team-members who are less capable and less wise than themselves.

Leaders hire more capable and wiser team-members than themselves.

Managers keep watching over the shoulder of their team-members, at times micromanaging.

Leaders trust the people and their capabilities and let them learn and grow.

Leaders try to give autonomy in constrained work, to their team-members.

Managers try to constrain even the autonomous work!

Managers are afraid of achievement of their team-members.

Leaders are coaching their team-members to start achieving!

Managers take the credit for the success and pass the blame on to the team-members for the failure.

Leaders take the blame for the failure and pass the credit on to the team-members for the success.

Managers keep demotivating their team-members and complain about their performance.

Leaders keep inspiring the team-members helping them unleash their top-notch performance.

Managers keep damaging the workplace and the company.

Leaders keep building the team and the company!

No wonder, they say, employees join good companies and leave bad managers!

This is probably why in some companies they have started taking feedback from the team-members about their managers as a part of the manager’s appraisal process. Because some managers can take the company down, one interaction at a time!

Unsurprisingly, all successful entrepreneurs are “Leaders” rather than a “Manager”!