A successful company needs reliable contacts for its employees, but also people who can make forward-looking decisions and manage people's needs as well as projects and finances. Managing and leading: there are fundamental differences between these two terms, which we will show you in this article. The most exciting question is which type of leadership will play a greater role again in the future.
Many skills and competencies are required to put a company on the road to success. A clear vision and a well-thought-out strategy are important in order to know where the company is heading in the long term and how it intends to reach this goal. The visions and values must be communicated transparently to all employees so that they understand them, can play an active role in shaping the values and can identify with them.
A key aspect of successful companies is the employees themselves, whose potential must be recognized and promoted. Today, many leaders and managers are developed from within the company's own ranks instead of recruiting them from the market at great expense. However, this requires good groundwork - a good management team that creates development opportunities through constructive feedback and the promotion of talent.
At the same time, however, it is also important to keep an eye on finances. Successful companies can adapt quickly to new circumstances and react to changes in the market. They must deploy resources in such a way that profits are ultimately generated.
These and many other aspects of successful corporate governance must be supported by both leadership and management. The two terms are often used interchangeably, but refer to different responsibilities.
The two terms cannot be clearly separated and there are also some interfaces. The main difference between management and leadership tasks is that managers must primarily focus on the company's system and its operational tasks. Managers are responsible for ensuring that, in the best case scenario, the company is in the black at the end of the financial year and remains on course for economic success. However, they also have an important role to play in management work.
An important part of achieving this is managing employees. Leaders have the task of shaping and involving the people within this system in such a way that their performance makes a valuable contribution to achieving management goals. They focus less on the numbers and more on the people behind them.
The central task of a leader is to inspire his or her team for the big picture and the company's vision. Leaders have internalized the company's values themselves and set a good example. They therefore offer employees guidance. Leaders are often also mentors or coaches who enable their team members to develop further. Leaders are also responsible for ensuring that the corporate strategy is implemented correctly.
In order to motivate all team members and use their resources correctly for the company's success, leaders should have certain leadership skills. These include the following skills, among others.
A manager can act in a company completely detached from management tasks. While the manager sets the strategic goals, the leader ensures that all team members are in the same boat and rowing together in the same direction.
Managers are the backbone of all business decisions. They keep an eye on the market and determine the course the company takes. However, just like managers, they also bear responsibility for the people in the company. While leaders primarily focus on the company's vision and work on it in the long term, a manager creates clarity in the here and now. A manager's most important skills include their leadership quality, communication skills and decision-making ability.
For processes to run smoothly within the company, managers need to create a suitable working environment and ensure that every team member gets the best out of themselves.
Management and leadership have interfaces in many areas. They both play their part in achieving the company's goals and must set priorities. They must also recognize the value of communication in their daily work. Leaders convey the vision, motivate and inspire. Managers provide feedback on how well these talents are already being used and where potential can be better exploited. To break down the difference between managing and leading into one central aspect: Managers create a link between the company's vision and the operational tasks required to achieve this vision. They are therefore also leaders at the same time - if they see their task not so much in setting and completing tasks, but rather in enabling a team to do the work in such a way that goals can be achieved.
Managers make an important contribution to establishing good communication within the company. They focus on managing resources, processes and tasks and ensure that daily tasks run smoothly. This creates stability, security and orientation for all employees.
Managing and leading are both important tasks for the innovative strength and success of a company. Not all leaders are also managers - but good managers today have leadership qualities.
Ideas and visions are an important driving force in the company - executives work primarily on the conception of these ideas, while managers ensure that they are put into practice. They staff the projects with the appropriate team members, plan resources and budgets. Managing also involves implementing the guidelines and rules of the corporate culture.
The classic corporate structure was always organized top-down. Decisions were made from the top down, responsibility was spread over a few shoulders and there was a clear separation between decision-makers and those who carried out these decisions without comment or being asked. In the recent past, however, many companies have moved towards delegating responsibilities, involving employees and their talents much more closely in business decisions and assigning them tasks from management.
Managing a company requires numerous skills - it is all the more difficult for one person to have all these skills. The more people take on management tasks, the more of these skills are available for qualified management.
Advantages of delegating management tasks to individual team members:
Organizational development is an important topic in many large companies. Above all, companies must align their internal structure in such a way that they remain fit for the future. Structures, processes and even the culture must be successfully designed and redesigned in such a way that they are supported by all those involved.
One option for corporate development is to opt for a decentralized corporate model. These are structures in which decision-making authority and control over various functions, departments or units are distributed across several levels within the company. In contrast to centralized corporate organizations, where decision-making power emanates only from the top of the company, decentralized models allow the various units or teams a certain degree of autonomy in their decisions. Instead of a single manager, there are several decision-makers.
Advantages of decentralized company organizations
Many companies are moving from the traditional "the manager makes the decision" to using consensus building to make decisions. They present issues and problems for discussion and no longer rely on a single person to make the right decisions. Management is seen as a collective process in which feedback is obtained from all those involved and decisions are only made when everyone agrees.
In the so-called steering committees, managers have the task of bringing together stakeholders from different departments to form a group of people capable of taking action. These circles are entrusted with specific projects and decision-making processes - everyone is heard, can contribute their perspective and only if there are no serious objections to a decision is it actually implemented. The great advantage for companies is that more innovative ideas and solutions can emerge because more people can get involved.
As a result, the decisions made can also be accepted much better within the entire organization. There is no longer just one decision-maker that everyone follows - instead, decisions are a process in which many people are involved.
In modern and future-oriented companies, every decision is made by the person closest to the work. Management tasks are distributed in such a way that suitable and qualified employees bear responsibility themselves. If the person who makes the decision about a project is the person who is most familiar with the work - and not a manager with little specialist knowledge - better results can be expected in the end.
Managers have a leadership responsibility - they must distribute tasks correctly and guide employees through constructive feedback so that they themselves take responsibility for their tasks and decisions. In order to strengthen your own management skills, it often makes sense to make use of external coaching services. The Stage Academy is an external partner and supporter of organizational development. With tailor-made solutions, companies reach the next stage of their development.
There are also many personal coaching offers that managers can use to develop their strengths and work specifically on their weaknesses.