February 14, 2018

By Christy Fox, Director of Marketing

What is the difference between management and leadership? To some, the words might seem interchangeable, however, this is not the case. Professionals across all industries should try to find a balance between the two to lead a successful team.

Here are six points outlining the differences between management and leadership. Where are you excelling and where are you lacking in your management or leadership roles?

• Leaders are inspirational and work to take their team to the next level.
• Managers execute day to day tasks and make sure day-to-day operations run smoothly.
• Leaders influence people; many come to leaders for advice.
• Managers have subordinates who just work for them.
• Leaders take risks that might take time, and resources, but will be worth it in the end.
• Managers eliminate risk and get tasks done in specific, set timeframes.
• Leaders think long term with goals and vision.
• Managers focus on short term tasks and accomplishments.
• Leaders are typically very people oriented.
• Managers are driven by numbers and rational problem solving.
• Leaders are proactive in building a strategy.
• Managers are reactive to a strategy that has been built and they execute it.

Not all managers and leaders are built the same, but a strong combination of the points above can push you from just managing people to leading people, and drive your team to be more successful.