The main function of leadership is to encourage people to work with full dedication, purposefully and as efficiently as possible. This is not just managing a group of people by distributing tasks and directions, but deep insight into the intricacies of the team’s work and its ultimate goal. Management can assume different levels, styles and approaches to both people and the work itself.
There is much discussion about whether leadership and management are one and the same as leadership and management.
Consider this issue from different angles and define the main task of leadership.
Leader or manager?
In modern practice, it is customary to use the concept of " manager " , which with its English, and even deeper Latin roots goes back to the word " manus " - a hand. Obviously, the origin of the word is connected with the position, which gave the person the right to give orders with the help of hands. This reflects the very essence of leadership as the distribution of orders and valuable guidance.
Undoubtedly, a true manager is a professional leader who is able to manage people. An effective manager is capable of equally productively managing both a department in a bank and the same department in a supermarket. He quickly understands the intricacies of the case and finds an approach to staff. The manager may not know the work that his subordinates do, but effectively manage them. As a method of work, he, of course, can use the practice of “putting himself in the shoes of a subordinate” in order to better understand the basics of the case.
Traditional leadership understanding
The traditional and perhaps the most correct understanding of leadership can be described in several functional areas.
Here are a few key areas.
- Leadership is leadership, setting an example and encouraging staff to work at a high level. And here I mean not stimulation by threats, but fair and thoughtful leadership.
- Leadership is work with the structure, and the task of the leader is to create and maintain a structure where everyone knows their role, area of work and purpose. It is also the ability to make decisions that will contribute to the most effective progress towards success.
- Leadership is a process of interaction between bosses and employees, it connects and closes the chain of remuneration and achievement of the goal. Creation of a team that can effectively interact both with each other and with superiors.
- Leadership is the ability to nurture people and reasonably delegate authority.
Is leadership a matter of style?
Since leadership is working with people using a certain power and influence, several styles of such influence are shared:
- authoritarian style;
- democratic style;
- laissez-faire style.
Consider these styles in more detail, as well as their positive and negative sides.
Authoritarian style
Authoritarianism involves the concentration of all power in the hands of one person. This is an overwhelming, overtly imperious type of leadership that focuses on the decisions of one person who does not accept the advice of his subordinates. This style is quite tough, holding people in "black gloves".
Pros: the ability to quickly make decisions, but only subject to sufficient experience and the availability of information from the manager.
Cons: lack of incentive for development among subordinates.
Democratic style
Democracy is governance, where power is delegated to several levels, and subordinates are not just executors, but also active participants in the decision-making process. Less pressure on the staff, confidence in their own self-organization and determination.
Pros: Provided by qualified personnel, stimulates to achieve goals, innovations and career growth.
Cons: it often happens that staff cannot make decisions quickly or behaves inappropriately.
There are other leadership styles, for example, the “laissez-faire” style , which stimulates all the creative potential of subordinates through their full independence. If we talk about popularity, then the first leadership style is used less and less, while democratic and others like it respond to the needs of staff and correspond to the modern way of thinking.
Can leadership be taught?
If we talk about academic discipline, which should prepare a person for the position of leader, then this is management . Leadership is also decision making, for which you need to have a solid knowledge base. Management is a synthesis of knowledge from different fields: economics and finance, psychology and sociology, law , etc. Developed and completely new methods and schemes for managing people.
But speaking openly, leadership is only a theory in management, but in practice the leader should be:
- a psychologist;
- a leader;
- Analyst
- sociologist;
- an economist;
- etc.
But theory and practice are two different things, and many theories are barren for solving practical problems of managing people. After all, leadership is a relationship with people, the use of experience in various fields of knowledge, personal qualities and the presence of an incentive. All of the above is a product of life experience and contact with the reality of a business or other activity, but not theory.
A true leader is able to organize a successful team using all of the above qualities.
Are all managers equally good?
Currently, for the sake of fashion trends or to give importance to individual posts, a manager can be called everything - from the distributor of goods to the head of a department.
Moreover, many university graduates receive a crust with the coveted phrase “manager ...”, but they have neither a theoretical base for managing people, nor practical foundations. These are just vessels of a set of knowledge, which in most cases have not even been taught to use them.