Management vs. leadership – how to train leadership and management skills in a team

1. What is Leadership?
2. What is management?
3. What is the difference between leadership and management?
4. How to train management and leadership skills in teams

The skills “leadership” and “management” are different forms of leadership qualities. While a leader motivates colleagues and sets a good example, a manager’s strengths lie primarily in organizing and controlling employees. A leader does not necessarily have to be a manager, but a manager can also be a leader. So what are the key differences and how can your team develop these skills? Find out in this article.

1. What is leadership?

Leadership is the ability to bring about positive change in an organization through careful planning, vision and strategy. The critical attributes of a leader also include employee empowerment and adaptive decision making. Most often, leadership is associated with position in an organization. But leadership has nothing to do with titles, management or personal goals. Leadership is also not limited to personality traits such as a better vision or a charismatic personality – it is more a process of social influence, maximizing the efforts of others to achieve a common goal. Leadership is based on social influence and requires human resources to achieve the desired results. A leader is someone who always takes the initiative and makes great efforts to achieve the company’s vision. This is the only reason why people around her or him start following.

2. What is management?

Management is the regular execution of pre-planned tasks with the help of subordinates. A manager is fully responsible for carrying out these four important functions: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Managers can only become leaders if they perform their leadership duties appropriately. This includes communicating good and bad results, providing inspiration and guidance, and encouraging employees to achieve higher levels of productivity. The primary focus of a manager*s job is to achieve organizational goals; other aspects are often not considered. With the manager title also comes the authority and privilege to promote, hire or reward employees based on their performance and behavior.

3. What is the difference between leadership and management?

It is possible to be a manager and a leader at the same time. But just because someone is a great leader doesn’t mean they are also a great manager – and vice versa. So what factors distinguish these two roles?

Decrease value vs. create value

If you manage employees, you are likely to reduce their value instead of creating it. An example illustrates this: When a diamond cutter is asked to report every 15 minutes how many stones he has cut, his boss subtracts value by distracting and micromanaging him. In contrast, leaders focus on creating value by saying, “I want you to take care of A while I take care of B.” He or she then adds value. Leading by example and empowering people is the hallmark of action-oriented leadership or leadership.

Circles of influence vs. circles of power

Just as managers have subordinates and leaders have followers, managers create circles of power while leaders create circles of influence. The quickest way to find out which of the two you do is to count the number of people outside your reporting hierarchy who ask you for advice. The more that do, the more likely you are to be perceived as a leader.

Leading people vs. managing work

Management consists of controlling a group or set of entities to achieve a goal. Leadership refers to a person’s ability to influence, motivate, and empower others to contribute to the success of an organization. Influence and inspiration distinguish leaders from managers, not power and control.

Most managers also tend to be leaders, but only if they also adequately perform the leadership tasks of management, which include communicating, motivating, inspiring, and guiding, and encouraging employees to be more productive.

The main difference between management and leadership is that leaders do not necessarily have to hold or occupy a management position. Simply put, a leader does not have to be an authority figure in the organization; a leader can be anyone.

Unlike managers, leaders are followed based on their personality, behavior and beliefs. A leader is personally committed to tasks and projects and shows a high level of passion for the work. Leaders are very interested in the success of their employees and enable them to achieve their goals to their satisfaction, even if they are not necessarily the goals of the organization.

4. How to train management and leadership skills in the team

Leading and managing are two different ways to make employee* collaboration more effective. Leadership spearheads new visions and initiatives, while management effectively controls resources to turn those visions into reality. Over time, you can build your leadership skills by developing emotional intelligence and learning how to influence others.

Leadership and management differ from each other in many ways. The main difference, however, is that management is a group of people working toward the achievement of a goal. Leaders, on the other hand, are concerned with motivating, influencing, and empowering employees*. Influence and inspiration distinguish leaders from managers, not power and control.

These are precisely the aspects that we bring to life for you in a playful way in our team development activities “Before Mars” or “Future City 4.0“. Good management and leadership as well as commitment of all teams lead to success. The advantages of collaborative working become clear and are rehearsed round by round.

“Future City 4.0” is a simulation for visionary teamwork. Develop your vision of a Future City in joint teamwork and train imagination, collaboration, leadership and management skills in a playful way.

This allows our active modules to move your team forward

• They enabled the team to work together on a vision, creating a valuable simulation for collaborative work on corporate visions
• Team members hone their leadership and management skills and work together on their imagination and implementation skills
• You bring teams into collaboration and cooperation
• You train the communication style for more effective interaction in the team
• You improve working relationships and communication skills in the team

At the end of our active modules comes the reflection and thus the most valuable part: Together we structure
the learning outcomes, discuss the takeaways of the individual teams, and create sufficient space for the
reflection on your conflict resolution skills.