Many people frequently use the terms “leader” and “manager” interchangeably, but these roles involve two different sets of skills. According to Steven Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Leaders and managers are two different things. Leadership is not management. Leadership has to come first. Management is a bottom-line focus: How can I best accomplish certain things? Leadership deals with the top line: What are the things I want to accomplish?” (2017, p. 107).
The roles of leader and manager are both fundamentally important to an organization. Managers are required to keep things running smoothly and leaders are needed to provide direction and motivation and to produce change. A person can be both a good manager and a good leader, but this is not always the case. For this Discussion, you will examine the leadership skills and management skills of the leaders with whom you have worked.
To prepare for this Discussion:
- Reflect on your professional experience with leaders with whom you have interacted as a follower, colleague, or supervisor. Consider the strengths and weaknesses these professionals had with regard to leadership and management skills. How well did they perform their roles as managers and as leaders?
- Then, drawing from your professional experience, identify a leader with whom you have interacted as a follower, colleague, or supervisor that matches only one of the following descriptions:
- They are a good leader lacking effective managing skills.
- They are a good manager lacking effective leadership skills.
- They are an effective leader and manager.
- They are neither a good leader nor manager.
Post an analysis of leadership versus management in business, being sure to address the following:
- Without giving the actual name of the leader you have selected, identify their strengths and weaknesses as a leader and as a manager. Then distinguish the individual’s leadership skills from their management skills.
- Analyze the effect the leader had on the business environment where you worked at the time. Was there a need for both management and leadership from this individual? Explain why or why not.
- Identify two lessons learned from working with this leader that you could apply to your own professional practice as a leader and/or manager.
Refer to the Week 1 Discussion 2 Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.
Important Note About Discussion Rubrics: In the peer-to-peer engagement section of the Discussion, the focus of your posts and responses should be to promote quality interaction with your colleagues and Instructor, to further the dialogue on the particular topic, to deepen your mutual understanding of concepts, and to draw out new ideas. Although you are encouraged to provide support for ideas you bring in from other sources, which is appropriate for discourse within a master’s-level classroom, emphasis is placed on the quality of the engagement as noted in the Discussion rubrics, with 40% of your score based on your level of engagement in the ongoing conversation with your colleagues.
Read some of your colleagues’ postings.