Jan 26 2009
Does the Leader Have to be the Manager?
One natural assumption that many people make when they first start looking at the issue of leadership is that the manager is the leader of a group or organization. While it is ideally the case, it isn’t necessarily so. It is one of the many examples that there is a difference between leaders and managers. There are many times that the manager is lacking in leadership skills, so someone else within the group has to step up to fill the void.
The best case scenario is that the manager has the leadership skills takes to be the leader. When that happens, organization goals and visions are made a part of the direction of the group. Members of the group buy into the vision of the manager, and the whole organization benefits by being unified.
I know firsthand that management and leadership are not always synonymous.
One of my previous jobs was as the Food Service Director for a camp. I had a group of five high school kids that I worked with to prepare all of the food for the summer camp. I was one of a handful of full-time employees for the camp, and I worked there year round. The majority of people were hired in for the summer, then went back to school or other jobs at the end of the summer season.
Coming into the summer season the decision was made to hire a new Assistant Director for the season. The man chosen had experience with the camp in previous years. He had worked as a counselor, and had spent a couple of seasons as the Head Men’s Counselor. During the rest of the year he worked as a high school math teacher, so he was used to working with youth.
Unfortunately, half way through the summer, the Camp Director, who was truly the leader of the organization, was forced to leave for personal reasons. The Assistant Director was promoted up to Camp Director, and summer camp went on.
The bad part of this scenario was, the new Camp Director did not have the necessary leadership skills to effectively take the reins of the camp. He had the position, and he had the authority, but he was not a leader, and the people he was supposed to be leading knew it.
My position at the camp put me third in line. I did not have the seniority to be seriously considered for the job, and my position gave me limited contact with many of the other people on staff, but yet when the chips were down the staff turned to me to tell them what to do. How did that happen?
It happened because they saw in me someone who could tell them how to get through a difficult situation. The camp director had knowledge of how the camp counselors should do their job, and how to run programs, but he didn’t know how to get all of the people involved working together.
The staff turned to me because I was the one that went out of my way to encourage them. I never stopped selling the vision of the camp, and reminding them of what we were trying to accomplish with the children that were in our care. I pointed out to them on a regular basis that what we were doing went beyond one difficult summer.
Pretty soon the staff at the camp regained their stride, and the summer went on without too much difficulty, but it was because I was able to step in and fill the leadership void.
Once again, it points out that there is a big difference between a leader and a manager.
I was not the manager. I did not have the position or the authority to take charge of the camp. As it turned out, I was the leader by default. I stepped in and lead the camp toward our goal, even though it was not supposed to be my position to fill.
The bottom line is, you don’t have to be the manager to be the leader. Management requires management skills, and leaders require leadership skills. If you are in a position of authority, and you feel that you are lacking in leadership skills, do not lose heart. The skill you need are available, and you can learn to lead.
