Leader or Manager. What are you?

Disclaimer: No Dutch or persons from Holland were injured in making this post

Imagine yourself as a famous track star.  You’re about to run an important race. Just before the race starts, you go to your locker, pull out a pair of wooden clogs, and head to the field.  Yea, you know it. They’re beautiful. Good luck with those clogs, Claude.

Political writer Ken Adelman once said, “A leader knows what’s best to do; a manager knows merely how best to do it.” In other words, a leader will not put on wooden clogs when spiked shoes are needed.  Yet all too often, when dealing with people, we attempt to use management (in this case wooden shoes) when leadership (spiked running shoes) is really needed. We then wonder why we fail to get traction with people and it hurts more than our feet when they reject our leadership.

When we are in a management mode we think, “Be efficient.” You see, management is the art of being efficient and resourceful with things. We’re efficient with our time.  A good janitorial service will cut time out of the service. A good handyman service will cut windshield time out. We cut out a step in a process and we increase our efficiency.  We complete tasks quickly.  We are resourceful and efficient with our budgets.  The whole concept of management revolves around being efficient. Being efficient with a task or project is a good thing.

However, now apply a management perspective to dealing with people.  Look at these scenarios and see if you can anticipate the results or outcome from being efficient with people.

A dad is on his way to work when his teenage  daughter says, “Dad, I have a problem I need to discuss.” The dad asks what the problem is and prescribes a quick solution so he’s not late for work.  Problem solved right?  He was efficient right?

A facility manager wants to change the janitorial service.  Thinking efficiently, he calls a quick meeting, tells everyone what he wants done and says, “By the way, it’s mandatory.” He solved his problem, right?  He was efficient in kicking off the new program, right?

A customer calls you on the telephone to complain about the janitorial service. You pass him on to someone else.  Efficient, right?

How would you guess each of these scenarios turned out?  Take for instance the example with the father and daughter.  In each of the scenarios the answer to the questions is “yes”- yes, the person was efficient.  Yes, the person was a good manager.  The person quickly dealt with the problem and was able to move on to the next fire. Each scenario dealt with people and was handled in an efficient, time saving, management perspective. Now go ask each person how they felt, and whether or not they would sing your praise.

Dealing with people is very much different from dealing with things.  Being efficient with people creates indifference, resentment and even anger.  Things do not come with emotions or core human needs like people do. Things lack the complexities of human self-esteems. People simply are not things. They are complex creatures of emotion.  The next time you find yourself in a frustrating situation dealing with people, figuratively look at your feet and make sure you are not sporting a pair of wooden clogs.

Putting on a pair of leadership shoes means we are willing to pay the price and sacrifice time and efficiency to be effective with people.  Notice the word “effective.”   Being effective takes time.  The graphic shows the difference between efficiency and effectiveness. Being a leader requires you prepare and you put yourself in the person’s shoes for whom you are trying to influence for good. Management ignores the law of preparation because the focus is on being efficient.  Management’s base is the law of action. Get things done and get them done quick. We are all required to work from a circle of influence. Matching management with tasks and leadership for people assures you get the cooperation you need from others to help you, and efficiency when you need to knock out a task or improve a process.

Here are several differences between a manager and leader.

Both management and leadership are important depending on the situation, and the two skills aren’t mutually exclusive. You can be great manager and a great leader. We error when we are efficient with people. So the next time you work with people, make sure you kick off the wooden clogs and put some effective running shoes on. Otherwise, you will fail to get traction with people and someone is going to get hurt (namely you, even if it is just your ego)!