I recently had the pleasure of meeting Australia’s Governor-General, Major General Michael Jeffery. He said to me that he felt leadership was more critical than management because people need to be inspired. Certainly John Kotter (highly regarded leadership researcher and author) believes that ‘most organisations are under led and over managed.’ He goes on to provide an interesting definition of leadership and management.
“Leadership isn’t mystical and mysterious. It has nothing to do with having ‘charisma’ or other exotic personality traits: It is not
the province of a chosen few. Nor is leadership necessarily better than management or a replacement for it…………Leadership compliments management.
Management is coping with complexity. Good management brings a degree of order and consistency to key dimensions like the quality and profitability of products. It achieves its place by organising and staffing, controlling and problem solving.
By contrast, leading an organisation begins by setting a direction – developing a vision of the future along with strategies for producing the changes needed to achieve that vision. For leadership achieving a vision requires motivating and inspiring – keeping people moving in the right direction by appealing to basic but often untapped human needs, values and emotions.”
– Source: John P Kotter “What Leaders Really Do”
“This highlights a leaders ability to connect and engage with his/her people and to go beyond the traditional task focus of many managers. They may need to develop a different belief pattern based on the intention to get the best out of people. Dr Phil Harker suggests that leaders ‘must be aware of the implicit assumptions that may be deeply embedded in their own thinking….and through example and dialogue, foster an environment where others are enabled and encouraged to also see things differently.”
– Source: Understanding Influence for Leaders at all levels
My role as a facilitator is to help people to see things differently, as well as developing a different skill set.