Leadership versus Management Quiz

Simon, over at dba.simonheap.com, has posted this management versus leadership quiz and he would like you all to go over there and take it. He is going to post the "right" answers next week (like there ever is a RIGHT answer in business!). It will be interesting to see what he says the right answers are!

Here's my response to his quiz (direct from the comment I left on his blog). You will note I was a bit sassy with Simon, because I am not a fan of the management-versus-leadership-put-one-in-one-box-put-the-other-in-another-box conversations. (I have a similar distaste for the women's management skills versus general management skills movement - I think it is not helpful to separate business courses or skills by gender, it only makes the chasm bigger) Any, I digress, here's the response.

Simon: I have "played" below, but let me register a protest. I think this whole what is leadership/what is management argument is not very productive. I wrote a bit about my thoughts on this on this post:

I think leadership is more about HOW we do things and management is the daily practice of ensuring a team and company is optimally successful.

I do not believe that certain tasks are leadership and others are management.

I do not beleive that certain jobs are leadership and others are management.

I realize I might be in the minority here. All management jobs require leadership. All leaders need to be excellent managers.

So, with that, here's my list:

When I manage I:

1. Provide structure

2. Use Imagination

3. Develop

4. Ask how and when?

5. Talk strategy

6. Keep an eye on the bottom line

7. Instigate

8. Do things right

9. Ask questions

10. Am a builder

11. Give answers

12. Do the right thing

13. Maintain

14. Provide support

15. Keep an eye on the horizon

16. Administrate.

17. Use common sense

18. Am an architect

19. Talk tactics

20 Ask why?

You can all feel free to pop on over to my blog and tell me you think I'm nuts! :-) www.managementcraft.com

(I wonder how many people DO think I am nuts?.....)

Comments

[Troy Worman]

Thanks for the link. This sounds like fun. But first... I share your view on the Leadership vs. Management debate and the other equally tiresome and futile debate you mentioned. It seems like an entire genre has developed around the latter. And on the former, well, I think you framed it nicely. There is just too much compartmentalization going on. The real world is not that cut and dried.

[Simon Heap]

I believe that there is some usefulness in splitting the topics or skill sets of leadership and management. They are two separate skill sets which co-exist in the one person and blend together to form a seamless process. Although you can combine the skills of a team of people to achieve the same results see my post http://dba.simonheap.com/archives/2005/02/index.html#a000028

Each of these skill sets tackle different situations. Leadership is about the future, management is about the present. The use also varies and types of skill required change across the hierarchy of an organisation. A line manager uses more management and technical skills than a CEO, who would use more leadership. For this reason managers and leaders need to know the differences between the two skill sets and when to apply them, if they are to be effective managers/leaders/executives. I'm not one for pigeon holing but to execute (deliver) you need to understand, to understand you need to break complex situations into small managable pieces.

The bastardisation of these two terms by academics, researchers, consultants and executives has caused mass confusion in the market place. As Stogdill noted "there are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are people who have attempted to define the concept". This exercise just brings it to the surface.

Thanks for playing and opening up the debate a good rigorous analysis brings confrontation to the surface. It been a blast!

[Lisa Haneberg]

Just for the record, while I think Simon has some good points, I strongly disagree that management is about the present and leadership about the future. Many aspects of management are very much about the future. Here are a just a couple couple examples:
Planning
Alignment
Idea generation
Goal setting
Development

I do think that management and leadership are difference skills and both need to be developed.

[Christopher Bailey]

Lisa, thought you might be interested in the comment I left for Simon...

Simon, I'll approach the exercise and your comment above from a different angle that I think exposes where we differ.

Based on your comment: "I'm not one for pigeon holing but to execute (deliver) you need to understand, to understand you need to break complex situations into small managable pieces."
I'm assuming that your approach on this issue is from a scientific/engineering mindset. Break things down to their smallest parts in order to understand how the machine works.

My approach would be from a more systems thinking mindset where we would take a look at the relationships between the two practices of leadership and management. I think it's where Lisa is coming from (if I can make that assumption). The challenge here is that it won't be as black and white with a two-column list; it won't be an either-or kind of discussion. Instead, it would be a probing of how the two practices interrelate. For instance, what are the interrelationships between how management and leadership "keep an eye on the bottom line"? For me, rather than trying to understand each one by focusing one what makes it distinct, I think it's far more interesting and educational to hold both up to the light at the same time. Messier? Yep, but it might yield some surprises.

Neither perspective is "right" and each reveals something thing interesting about the individual. Just thought I'd stir the pot a little more.

[Lisa Haneberg]

Chris - I dig what you said.

For instance, what are the interrelationships between how management and leadership "keep an eye on the bottom line"?

Yes, absolutely. And further, I don't care so much whether we get all the attributions correct. The important thing is that we acknowledge what works, what doesn't, what's important and what's not so important, and help our managers/leaders do their best work on behalf of their teams and companies.

[Bert]

Whew! Although I weighed in on this on Simon's blog as well as my own in general terms, we need to remember that, unless we are signing the paychecks, it is possible, if not likely, that we play both roles in our organizations: leaders and managers. Those of us in middle management struggle as we find the line between the two roles blurred at times, depending on the context that we're in. While we're in one of the roles, however, I believe that we use different skill sets and strategies and view issues from a different perspective than when we're in the other.

[Doane]

very nice and superb website!