For so long, we’ve thought of managers being the people who simply keep track of the tasks to be done. They sit over your shoulder, making sure you’re getting the tasks done fast enough and with just enough quality.
There’s a difference between a leader and a manager, though they’re certainly not exclusive.
A leader cares about developing her people. She cares about building them up. She cares abotu coaching them, developing them, and celebrating them. She takes risks in the name of letting her employees fail so that they can learn and grow… and then she’s there to pick them up, dust them off, and help them get back in the game.
Sure, things need to get done. But the fastest, most efficient way for the tasks to get done is to build your people up so that they are autonomous and driven by their own sense of purpose in their work.
Leaders develop independently motivated people. Managers, bad managers anyways, simply focus on whether the work gets done.
The best managers are really just leaders with a title. And sadly, there just aren’t that many of them.
Where have all the great managers gone?