1.1 Managers and Leaders- What's the Difference?

Welcome to the career and, career readiness series hosted by the University of California in Irvine. This is the first of four modules on the Fundamentals of Management. I am Dave Nagy. Today, in this first module, we are going to explore a couple essential themes in management. We’re gonna talk about the differences between manager and leader. And we’re gonna focus, look at the, what is the focus of the manager’s job? So since we’re gonna be spending four sessions together, just a a little bit about me. I am Dave Nagy and I am a former Senior Manager from, I’m retired from Hallmark Cards. I am currently the owner of a, a consulting company. I’ve been teaching at the University of California since 2000. Former Chairman of the Board of Goodwill Industries and have participated in a lot of other seminars and team excellence award competitions where I was a judge. So, enough about me. Let’s talk about the Fundamentals of Management and look at one very important concept and that is what is the difference? Is there a difference between manager and leader? So let’s start with definitions. So,a manager is someone who plans and administers, directs and controls the use and coordination of resources in order to achieve a goal. Management then is a single manager or a group of managers together, who are who are determining the structure, the alignment, the activities, the resources that will be used in conjunction with five functions of management, which we’ll talk about later module. But just briefly, those five functions are planning and organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. Those, so management’s then is the, the, using the function of management to push people to set and achieve goals. So coordinating, resources, things, pushing people to set and achieve goals. I’d like to ask you to think about five questions. So can the same person be both a manager and a leader? Can managers, do all, are all managers leaders? Are all leaders managers? Where do we find leaders in an organization. And is the top person at the head of an organization, CEO, president, et cetera, always a leader? So we’ve, I’ve shared with you the definition of management and manager. So think about these as you listen to the definition of leader and leadership. So, a leader is someone with vision and interpersonal skills, who guides and influences and heads the direction of a team or a group in order to in order to set and achieve goals. Leadership is then, a process of influencing and inspiring motivating individuals to set and achieve goals by pulling people who want to be part of the process. So managers, we said, focus on things. Leaders, focus on people. Managers, push and direct and leaders, pull and influence. So, I asked you to think about these five questions. Can the same person be both? Are all managers leaders? Are all leaders managers? Where do we find leaders? And is the top person always a leader? So, I think if you’ve thought about these you will say, no, the, the same person can be, both but that takes a totally different set of skills. There’s been a number of articles in the last ten years written entitled or subtitled, where have all the leaders gone? Which tells me that we’re being more relegated by management these days than leaders. Are all managers leaders? No. Some managers don’t have the interpersonal skills, the ability to motivate, to influence, to inspire, to pull. Are all leaders managers? No. Some leaders hate the administrative task. Sales people typically are notorious for not turning in their paperwork. Where do we find leaders? Well, let me ask you another question. Who motivates? Who inspires? Who rallies the troops in a team or an organization or an apartment? Is that the person with title? Well, probably not, maybe not. So, so we find leaders in any part of the organization with or without a title. Position not required. Is the top person in an organization always a leader? No. There’s significant research that says, many of our worlds most prominent organizations are very aptly and expertly led by people who are considered to be brilliant managers not necessarily leaders. We also have many organizations who are led by leaders and they have a, they have a team of people to help carry out all of the management functions. So let’s look at similarities and differences. So, on the left, we see characteristics of a manager. On the right, characteristics of a leader. And then we have some shared some shared characteristics. So, if we look at manager. Manager is part of the formal process. They they are involved with a process. They push people who need to be part of the organization. They solve problems. They are, they drive change. They push people. Leaders on the other hand, are not part of the formal organization. They lead by influence with or without power. They have a group of people who want to follow them voluntarily. They lead change. They influence people. They motivate. They create momentum. What are the commonalities between these managers and leaders? Well, they both have a vision. They both are responsible to set and achieve goals. They both are responsible to achieve results. They both are responsible to continually improve the process that they are involved in. And they both have constituents or followers that they need to listen to. So this this concept between leaders and managers is essential to the, to the study of this body of knowledge called management. I, so, as we move through this next series, keep this in mind, this differentiation.