Management or Leadership? What is The Difference? Does It Apply To You?

These two terms are often mixed up and it is actually crucial to know the difference and understand why you need both in order to achieve success. Read on Management or Leadership? What is The Difference? Does It Apply To You?

So what is the difference?

Management = Processes, Organisation and Coordination of tasks to achieve objectives. 

Leadership = Vision Creation, Team Building, Coaching, Inspiring and Motivating others, and the responsibility of Delivery of the Vision 

Management or Leadership? What is The Difference? Does It Apply To You?

Does this apply to me?

In life, in business or in your career you need both to achieve success. Both management and leadership combined will aid you in achieving any goal you set for yourself and your team around you. 

If you are a solopreneur it can be difficult to understand how to manage and lead your business. I understand the struggle and I found a simple and effective way to keep this clear in my mind, and that was to get it out of my mind first. Get it written down, and continuously review what you are doing. Is the task part of the management side of the business or the leadership side? 

When you are working on your own you are going to find it challenging as it may be that either or maybe both are not your forte. Don’t worry you can learn these skills and even if you don’t enjoy it, remember your reason ‘why?’ you started your business, this will pull you through anything you don’t enjoy. Once you start expanding your team you can bring in individuals who will compliment your business and you can delegate what you are not great at to people who are great at it. This also means that the scope of management and leadership within your business will evolve and change.

How does this apply to my career? 

Yes, and this is not only applicable to those who have a management or leadership position by title. In your current role you would be looking at management skills to ensure you are performing and carrying out your responsibilities to the best of your abilities and being an effective team player; when it comes to considering your career and professional goals you would be looking at leadership skills to ensure that you are leading your day to day with purpose in achieving a self-defined vision as well as contributing towards the company/organisation’s vision. 

Running a business with a small or large team?

Great! You have a team of people however it is so easy to forget that a business and it’s systems are run by people, actual human beings. You need to have effective management and leadership to ensure your team are performing and that the business is moving forward in the direction you want it to move in. Your team are building their career and have independent goals so you have to balance and incorporate this as part of business development. If you yourself are not the right, find someone who is – but remember – always get the right people who will be passionate about working towards achieving the vision of the business. 

How do I develop these skills?

‘Google it’ or ‘Ask Dr Google’, it is a wonderful search engine however you will learn but you won’t necessarily improve, and overwhelm will most likely happen. 

So let’s take a step back and approach this in a realistic yet optimistic way so you can actually get started or improve both skill sets. Use the descriptions given at the beginning of the article and apply it to your business or career. If you find it difficult to come up with an answer or are lacking clarity then you know that it’s something that you need to work on. 

Once you have identified what you need to work on research on specific specialist resources that cover that. If you use something like Youtube which is full of great content, make sure you understand what you are looking for otherwise you will end up watching irrelevant content. 

Ask a real person – find the right person to coach and/or mentor you and can cater to what you need and create a focused development plan. 

Online/Offline Community – there are amazing communities, groups and events out there that can introduce and connect you with people who can support you.  Practice makes perfect – practice is the only way you are going to get better. So get out there and learn by doing! Get feedback and keep on going! Management and Leadership will empower you to create bigger and better changes as well as sustain stability. It enables you to take control and stay in control. 

Don’t forget to enjoy the process and keep on growing! You got this!