Are you a manager or a leader?

On January 02, 2009, in Leadership and attitude, by Neculai Fantanaru

Only what you have better in you, can add value to others, can raise them or can make them come down.

The manager of a company was confronted a long time ago with a major difficulty. He had to solve the situation in a very short time. Nevertheless, instead of encouraging the employees to join their forces in order to solve the problem, he gave them an ultimatum:”Each of those who still want to stay in this company has to come up with a unique idea to solve the problem in 24 hours. The one, who is not capable of finding a good solution in this time, will be fired without any explanation.”

In the end, the problem was not solved, and the company got bankrupt after the manager fired almost all his employees.

How do you take part in the game?

In football, it can be said that a teammate "take part in the game" when it influences the game anyway, even through words and gestures, preventing the opponent or attempting to obtain an advantage from his offside position.

In a company, just like in football, every employee who provides, seriously his shoulder to its development, is part of a game of great complexity, but also can be of high risk, in which he must keep his trust and credibility in front of the employer and other colleagues, may gaining an advantage only through his favorable results, that confirm his commitment and helps him be valuable.

How do you take part in the game? By using your skills and competences in your company’s favor, or in its disadvantage? Through an acceleration of your productivity growth, or through a decrease of your level of involvement?

Just as a plant should be watered daily, so and you should maintain constantly the series of professional victories.

Not every manager has the abilities of a leader

Leadership is a form of power that can be accepted or imposed. Following someone because you have no choice, for being forced to do it, it is not really the best choice. A good leader is the one that can motivate people to act and to collaborate with him the most efficient, through a continuous association. I do not disclose any secret when I say that a person can reach a high leading position, but that does not mean automatically that he has leadership skills. So it is therefore, unwise to put an equality sign between manager and leader.

Leading does not mean that the leader gives an order, and the others fulfill it with obedience and fear. To lead means to train and to mobilize people for the achievement of a common goal, through a process of optimization of their performance.

A leader has to be a good connoisseur of human character

It is true that you cannot be a leader if you are not an ambitious person, tenacious, persistent, perceptive, competent, and prepared to face the challenges which intervene in your professional life. However, if you do not know how to attract people by your side, if you are not capable of doing more for them, to be by their side and to support them when everything seems lost, then you will end alone.

People are not equal. They have skills, knowledge and different qualities. This is what a manager should consider before asking his employees to fulfill some extremely difficult tasks. Moreover, in a critical situation, teamwork has a major importance, so if a manager appeal at a method to determine people to work individually, he only makes them go away, which inevitably leads to failure.

No wonder that only few companies resist for a long time on the market and that is because not all of them are led by truly competent leaders, but by managers without a culture of leadership.

Only what you have better in you, can add value to others, can raise them or can make them come down.