Leaders and Managers Essay -- Business Leading Managing Essays

Leaders and Managers A former advertising campaign for a beer company established the slogan, "Tastes great, less filling." The light beer was not only tasty, but it also didn’t fill you up, combining two good qualities into one product. Like the beer, you also need to demonstrate multiple abilities. To be successful in today’s industry, a combination of both leadership and management skills is required. Just like the beer that claimed to be both tasty and less filling, you need to be able to be both a leader and a manager in your organization. That sounds easy, but there is one problem; leadership and management are two separate skills. To understand the difference, we first need to define leadership and management. Leadership is changing for better results; it is challenging the status quo and looking at the long term. Management, on the other hand, is consistency for better results; it is maintaining the status quo and focusing on short-term results. Management is about completing a project on time and on budget. Leadership and management, therefore, seem to contradict each other. Leading Take a moment to name some leaders. You may think of people like Winston Churchill, George Washington, Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, Vince Lombardi, and Mother Theresa. Or, maybe the names of your bosses, teachers, or family members come to mind. But, would you think of your own name? Probably not. Usually, when we think of leaders, we consider larger-than-life historical figures, or important people who shaped our own lives, and we don’t include ourselves. Give yourself some credit. You may not be leading large armies or nations, but you are leading your organization, project, or crew. The members of these categories need the same leadership that the followers of Eisenhower needed. You can be a leader too. The real question is, how well do you lead? Take a look at the things leaders do with their time. Ultimately, the things those leaders do often revolve around "soft skills and solutions." These intangible things do not come naturally to many people in the construction industry. The critical few things that leaders do are set priorities, align people, and motivate and inspire them. These are skills that can be learned and taught. Setting priorities Priorities establish what is important. There are a number of ways an organization can... ...leader articulates the intended direction, plans must be put in place to provide concrete ways to move in that direction. Once people have been hired into an organization, the structure of which was defined by a manager, a leader must align those people with a vision. Finally, the leader must motivate and inspire people to overcome the challenges that management processes of controlling and measuring have uncovered. Mandate for the future The business person of the new millenium must be better than the business person of the 20th century. The competitive environment has changed. The harsh reality is that customers and clients are more demanding, there is no labor waiting on the bench, and margins are thin. However, the person who can balance the seemingly contradictory skills of management and leadership is poised to step into positions of increased responsibility and impact and capitalize on these new market conditions. These same people and their organizations will then reap the rewards of being market leaders. These rewards are numerous, but better margins through a highly motivated workforce are a good start. The ultimate rewards are for you, the leader, to determine.