Get on with it
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Over the Thanksgiving weekend I had several delightful conversations. One was with a young man who asked me: "Do I really need to know the precise difference between leadership and management?"
My response: "Only if it helps you do a better job."
More and more it seems to me that our discussions of leadership and management are sounding like the debates of the scholastic theologians of the Middle Ages. We're debating stuff that simply doesn't make a difference in the real life of real bosses.
The debates are fun and I've dived into my share of them, but let's get serious. If it doesn't help you do a better job, it's really not that important.
The good news is that you know what to do. Every boss has a pretty good idea. That's because we've all seen or experienced a good boss, not because we understand the latest nuanced discussion of "true leadership." Here's how to cut to the chase.
Pick a couple of good role models. When you face a work situation ask yourself, "How would my role model handle this?"
Modify to suit yourself and your situation. Every person and every situation is different. Get advice from your peers. Get ideas from books and speeches and classes. Naturally, I like my Working Supervisor's Support Kit.
Get feedback on how things work for you. Observe and make notes. Ask your peers and your team members for feedback. Say, "Thank you."
Change your behavior based on what you learn. Otherwise, what's the point?
Boss's Bottom Line
Follow the advice of Roman Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius and apply it to your work. "Waste no time in arguing what a good person should be. Be one."
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Categories: leadership development
Tags: Leadership Development
I absolutely love that quote at the end, Wally. Way to cut to the chase. Thanks for another great article!
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Thanks, Jen. All credit to the great Stoic emperior!
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I love this, Wally. Whether we call them "leadership" or "management" or "Billy Bob," what matters is learning and applying the *behaviors* that bring out good performance. An early version of my team building program parsed out "team leadership" versus "supervision," but I decided I was wasting time with superficial categories. I don't even like general lists of characteristics, because people cannot easily apply those to a given situation in the moment. It's all about the behaviors. Call them "Georgina" or "Paulo" and, as you aptly say, get on with it.
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Thanks for that great comment, Jim. I had a similar experience when I realized that, in my programs, I was spending an hour or more on exercises to define "leadership" when we could have been using that time to introduce behaviors that work. In fact, I was just looking over some materials from a couple of decades ago and I was amazed how much was theory. The trend for me has been to diminish the discussion of theory (or move it to after-class bull sessions) and increase the amount of "how-to."
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Hi Wally,
How many books and articles does one have to read before becoming a leader? - probably a lot fewer than one thinks. How many hours does one have to practice leadership before becoming a good leader? - probably a lot more than one would think.
I tell my clients to choose specific skills that they feel they need to develop in their leadership role and then go out and practice, practice, practice. They will make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.
You are right - the debates are fun but the only way to really learn and improve our leadership skills is by just "getting on with it"
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Thanks, Laura. I'm sure it's quite possible to learn to be a better boss without a single book. I wouldn't recommend it, but it's possible. As for the amount of time, I have some experience/research that tells me it will take a year or two to master the basics of a boss's job. It will take less if you show up with good role models and a willingness to request and act on feedback. To master the whole job, I'm sure that the oft-quote 10,000 hours is a good figure.
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Harry Truman said "not all readers are leaders but all leaders must be readers."
And I like Wally's reference to 10,000 hours. Most of the books on leadership/management these days seem to best serve the author. But "Talent is Overrated" is an excellent book about the effect of deliberate practice.
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Good point, Doug. I'm convinced that too many management books are exhortations, not helpful works. And I know that it takes a long time to master the art of being a boss. Personally, I like to think of deliberate improvement instead of deliberate practice. Deliberate improvement includes deliberate practice, but it also includes conscious efforts to improve performance in areas where the conditions of deliberate practice are not possible or effective.
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Amen! I have thought for some time that the more a person talks about leadership theories and techniques, the less time they have to actually practice great leadership. Leaders "do", they don't "discuss doing." Your closing quotation ties it all together so well -- thanks for another great article.
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Thanks, Skippy! Again, props to Marcus Aurelius.
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I agree. Basically I don't think there is a distinction. But you can define one and it might help you look at how to approach aspects of your job. And in that way it might be helpful.
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True enough, John. As individuals we can decide if having conversations about the fine distinctions makes sense for us. It does for many people. But as leaders and writers and trainers, I think there are better uses of the time of our readers and class participants.
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Wally, how true. When my clients become interested in this topic, I simply say, "Who do you admire? What are they doing that you'd like to try?". I will say that a discussion about leadership becomes important when an individual isn't doing it. I find that at every step in the "high potential" journey - a new assignment, promotion, etc. - opens the door for that discussion again.
Thanks for your thoughtful post.
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That's a powerful insight, Mary Jo: "a discussion about leadership becomes important when an individual isn't doing it." The formal venue for that would be coaching or mentoring. Support groups can help here and either individual counselors or peers can offer reading suggestions that spur discussion. Thanks for adding your insight to the discussion. One thing I love about blogging is that readers' comments complete the post.
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So true. It's only important if it helps you (or someone you are providing feedback or guidance to) do a better job.
I have seen the assessment that "leadership is lacking" used as a catchall assessment for what doesn't fit neatly anywhere else in verbal feedback or even on a performance review, sometimes as the justification for why someone isn't getting promoted.
When I press people to distinguish what they mean they often have a hard time. If you are the one telling someone leadership is a performance gap you'd better be able to distinguish the gap in a way that gives the person access to changing their behavior.
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Absolutely agree, Susan. The "lacking leadership" judgment is a lot like the "bad attitude" judgment. You have to reduce it all to behavior.
What does s/he do that leads you to say that they're "lacking leadership"?
What doesn't s/he do that leads you to that judgment? How have you make your expectations explicit?
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I always found this age old quote worked for me. " You manage resources, you lead people." Nevertheless I agree with your basic premise, do what works for you. Good article.
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Thanks, Ron. For me the important thing is that you have to do both.
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Doesn't it bother you that the numbers say that everybody "liked" the blog entry?
It would seem to me that there should be at least one decenter or maybe there just isn't enough in the post to really make a difference.
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Thanks, John. It doesn't bother me because several people added comments that enriched the post.
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I think you alight upon a really interesting point here, Wally. It's true that quality leadership doesn't have to accompany extensive reading on the subject: it can be an instinctive or experiential learning process.
I think it's also worth noting that while a great amount of time and effort is spent on research and academic discussion on the nature of effective leadership, there is no guarantee that this actually filters through to leadership practice on a business level. This divide is often referred to as the 'research to practice gap' and it seriously inhibits the rate of progress in the field of leadership development.
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Thanks, George. I understand the job of being responsible for the performance of a group as a practical art. Because it's a social phenomenon, research can never replicate the kind of certainty that can emerge from laboratory studies. Bosses do their work in a dynamic, high velocity atmosphere. In those cases, a few rules, diligently applied often get better results than fine-tuned "systems" and the best way to learn the craft is to practice it, with as much feedback as possible.
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The problem I see, at least in my small part of a large corporation, is: If your role is to do Engineering, employed by an engineering service company of the corporation, you need to look for examples of good bosses who are ENGINEERS. When the corporation loses interest in in house engineering, they need a clean break and redefinitions of internal roles. Otherwise, Leadership, management, or whatever you want to call it becomes sorely lacking when business people move down to fill out all the management and supervision positions. Decisions and examples of good bosses making Good Engineering decisions become sorely lacking. Particularly in fields of engineering more controlled by regulation and outside of corporation ethics (civil, environmental) then by business needs involved in manufacturing or production.
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That's a good point, Paul. But I wouldn't limit my search for role models only to engineers. Not all your decisions as a boss will be engineering ones and then you may be able to widen your search.
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I love the taste of what it is to be a personal leader here Wally.
I also think though that people have within them to be a role model themselves when they act from authenticity, courage, congruence and their deepest values.
I think it is less about modeling ourselves after others - than it is more about bringing out those qualities in ourselves that we are attracted to in others. They are the same after all.
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Thanks, Anne. I think that what role models do for us is present us with a quick way to identify things that have worked for others and might work for us.
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