Why management and leadership are not the same thing

"I develop people...and what do you do?" Why management and leadership are not the same thing.

We would like to share with you a special experience we had some time ago.

Scene of the crime: Airspace between Stuttgart and Berlin

We were sitting on the plane on our way to visit an important customer. In the window seat next to him was a well-dressed man wearing a smart suit and an expensive watch. We quickly realized that he must be one of those "go-getters" who responsibility a lot of responsibility in his job. Of course, we could have been wrong, but in this case we weren't. It soon became apparent that the email and cell phone-free zone on the plane was causing our seatmate a certain amount of boredom. Shortly after takeoff, he had quickly read through the business section of a renowned Frankfurt newspaper and then sought conversation.

After we had discussed Stuttgart 21, including the rail strike, the crisis in Greece, and the new Berlin airport BER, he became interested in what we did for a living.

Our answer was clear: "We develop people and implement the Leading Simple management system in companies. It supports leader employees in responsibility more responsibility and communicating more clearly and in a more results-oriented manner."

He looked at us with his jaw hanging open and seemed clearly irritated. We would like to briefly recount the ensuing discussion.

The man: "Developing people, what is that? Is that your real job?"

GLI: "Yes, of course. It's actually a calling."

The man: "So you're a management consultant?"

GLI: "No, human developers. The Grundl Leadership Institute systematically develops people."

The man: "What's the difference?"

GLI: "A consultant advises and usually dictates things. A human developer looks very closely at the current stage of development of the individual and promotes this in a targeted and individual manner."

The man: "And how do you do that specifically?"

GLI: "By asking specific questions, we find out where the customer is and where they want to go. Then we help them get closer to their goals step by step. We make sure that they don't just plan things, but actually do them. In short: we get people to take action."

The man: "Sounds exciting, but always and everything only with people, that wouldn't be for me."

In the end, it turned out that the man worked in the management of a large corporation.

But why are we telling this story?

We have noticed in many different organizations that management and leadership are often understood to be the same thing. But they are not. They are two different and very effective concepts that are linked to different tasks and responsibilities.

Please don't get me wrong, we know that management, with its reports, scorecards, and reporting systems, is extremely important in organizations. But it's not everything.

We always imagine the whole thing as a scale. On the left side of the scale is classic "management" with reports, questionnaires, scorecards, etc. On the right side of the scale is leadership and human development. What does it look like in your organization? Is the scale balanced, or does one area outweigh the other significantly or even excessively? How can you restore balance to the whole? What specific changes do you need to make?

Unfortunately, we often see leader hiding leader traditional "management" and frequently invoking it as an excuse for not having to take the lead.

Image source: Pixabay