One of the most critical and valuable traits of being someone's boss is the ability to reflect on your own behaviour and performance and learn from it. This article will let you do just that by sharing some indicators to help you distinguish whether you are a manager or a leader.
Too often these words are used interchangeably when in fact it is obvious that being a manager is more like a job title that comes with an assigned role to be fulfilled, possibly decided by more senior executives.
Leadership, on the other hand, is something one earns only by investing a great deal of time and genuine effort. But the fact is, you can be a leader even when you don't have any subordinates who work for you, if you are willing to develop your leadership skills. This is because a true leader does not need to be appointed to a post to get that role.
In short, we see that a manager controls whereas a leader leads. Some leaders may not even have any job titles but they are aware that they have great responsibility.
Now, to distinguish whether you are a manager or a leader, ask yourself some questions using the following checkpoints.
Checkpoint 1: Are you inspiring or managing others?
Leaders encourage others to take action or trigger certain ideas and movements, while managers spend a lot of time to make sure orders are carried out and rules are enforced. Here, motivation is a key indicator because when you lead someone, you can be sure that your people are motivated enough to do what is required of them without having to worry about how they will respond.
Checkpoint 2: Are you helping others to become heroes or trying to be one?
Leaders help others to improve their performance and become the best version of themselves - heroes in other words - whereas most of the time managers want to become the heroes themselves. The result? The leader ends up becoming someone's hero and, unexpectedly, gains followers while the manager remains just another functionary who takes credit instead of showing responsibility toward team members.
Checkpoint 3: Are you exerting your power over your people or are you developing your power with your people?
As mentioned earlier, being a manager is merely having a title with an assigned role and that is why managers normally exert their power over their employees without developing that deeper connection leaders are often keen on building. This is because leadership appeals to human emotions or attitudes, so making connections is vital. If you are a true leader, you want to ensure that power is not centralised but rather dependent on your followers' views of you.
Checkpoint 4: Are you creating change or reacting to change?
It is said that managers are victims of change as their role is static and that is why they often try to control situations. On the other hand, leaders are keen on making change happen, so when someone challenges the status quo or the way your organisation does things, they regard this as an opportune time to let them lead.
Furthermore, managers abhor external competition (which often leads to change) because it is something beyond their control, but leaders learn new and better ways to build their own businesses from this competition.
Now, what are your answers to the above questions? In an ideal world, the titles "manager" and "leader" would go hand in hand, but I'd say that's not always the case, particularly when today's boss is no longer a boss because of the title, but must earn his position by building trust.
When trust can lead to better productivity and employee morale and must be constantly renewed. One wrong move in terms of how you choose to be a boss - whether to manage or to lead your team - may cause your people to lose trust and possibly imperil your business.
Arinya Talerngsri is Group Managing Director at APMGroup, Thailand's leading Organisation and People Development Consultancy. She can be reached by e-mail at arinya_t@apm.co.th or https://www.linkedin.com/pub/arinya-talerngsri/a/81a/53b
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