Some managers seem to get a bit of a bad rep these days. It seems as though everyone needs to be a Leader in order to be effective and it’s somehow not enough to just be a great Manager.
I have worked with, and experienced both good and bad Leaders and Managers, and from my personal experience, both need each other to be great.
Great Leaders recognise the skills that compliment theirs and empower their Managers to perform at the highest level. They create Managers who then empower their teams to do great things, and so on. Hence the importance of the ‘Great Leader’ in any business.
Some of the best Leaders I have worked with have had fantastic ideas but without good Managers behind them the ideas simply fall flat. A sign of the best Leader is knowing what skills will compliment theirs and acquiring them.
Bad Leaders will typically overload managers and use them as the ‘bad cop’ to deliver the difficult messages. Most ‘bad’ managers are not up to scratch because of a lack of training, clarity in their role and direction from above. A trait of a bad Leader is thinking only they have the skill to get things done.
We’ve all seen the graphic of ‘Leader vs Manager’ which effectively eludes to Managers not being as good as leaders. Yet its clear to see that Leaders and Managers both need each other in equal amounts to achieve the end goal that they both desire.
Do you agree? Have you had any experiences of the good, the bad and the ugly? We would love to hear them! Please comment below.