I have been in the work world for well over a decade. In those years, I have crossed paths with a vast variety of leaders and managers. I think the most important thing I have learned through my experiences is anyone can be a leader but not every manager can be a leader. The question becomes, why does this matter? The answer is simple, just because someone is in management does not mean that he or she have the leadership skills needed for management. There is a fine line between leading people and managing people. The reason I choice to write about this is because of a current fork in the road I am into in my life. I am finally at point where I have to make a decision about my career path. More importantly, I have to make a decision do I want to be a manager.
The chapter this week on Trait Approach really started to make me think about my own traits and characteristics. To be frank, I have always considered myself a leader. I find that I tend to naturally demonstrate Kirkpatrick and Locke’s 6 traits, “drive, desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, and cognitive ability, and knowledge of the business” (PSU WC, 2016, L2, p.2). I frequently find myself demonstrating leadership on projects, even when I am not the lead because I want everyone to be involved on the project and want to make it as successful as I can. Our lesson also states, “Leaders in one situation were not necessarily leaders in another situation” (PSU, WC, 2016, L2, p.2). I find that this statement is what has me focused on the difference between leaders and mangers. I might possess leadership qualities and skills when on projects but what about do I possess the skills and traits to manage a group of individuals?
A strength of the trait approach is that the research has provided benchmarks for organizations to determine what they want to look for or require in their leaders. The trait approach also helps organizations in assessing the traits their supervisors and managers have to help improve the company’s overall leadership. (Northouse, 2016, p. 30) However, in the criticism section of Northouse’s Trait Approach chapter, it states “research has emphasized the identification of traits, but has not addressed how leadership traits affect group members and their work” (Northouse, 2016, p.31). If organizations are only focused on its leader’s traits, it could miss the idea that not every leader is ideal for a certain situation. Additionally, if organizations maintain that they should focus leadership traits only on supervisors and managers they could miss individuals who have these qualities that do not have the titles, not all leaders have to be in management. If someone in a group possess the traits of leadership, but not the title of manager, does that make them any less of a leader? The answer is no, leadership is not bounded by only people in management. Leadership can be anyone; however, there is a strong focus of these traits continually brought up to mean management.
My continuous thoughts about leadership traits leave me continually struggling with the idea of “leaders” vs “managers”. Even more so, leave me in state of confusion about where I went to head in my career. Even though I have leadership traits, does that mean I should be a manager of a team? Should I just remain a leader on the team instead of the main person? As you can tell, I have many decisions coming up soon.
Resources:
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7th Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2016). PSYCH 485 Lesson 2: Trait Approach: The Great Man Theory. Retrieved on January 26, 2020 from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2040131/modules/items/28001666
Jes McAdam-Sellers says
Hi Abbey,
You pose an interesting question- are there scenarios in which management and leadership should be differentiated and seperated? I think first we need to dissect what the differences are between the two. According to PSU WC (2020), leadership is characterized with these four traits: It is a process, it uses influence, it occurs within a group, and it is goal related. Will these attributes always be needed in every organizational context? That seems short-sighted to classify it as a mandate. There are many tasks that simply need to be done, and therefore the the emphasis is on managing processes and people. Can these tasks be completed devoid of leadership? It depends. I look no further than our weekly payroll process. Every day, millions of employees world-wide clock in and clock out on a time keeping device. Their times are reviewed and approved. Discrepancies are investigated. In a word, the process must be managed. In this example, someone who’s strengths in leadership outside their strengths in management might not be a good fit for the task at hand. Their strengths would be going to waste.
So with that said, we often see that the reverse is true. Many people who are strong as managers are placed in positions where the importance of leadership is far greater than their capacity to lead. The results are often disasterous. But frankly I think many of the worlds greatest leaders would be bored in a situation where management was more important than leadership.
Getting back to your question about whether to seek out management roles as a way to continue your leadership growth, I think the answer probably depends on the situation!
References
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2020). PSYCH 281 Lesson 1: Introduction to Leadership. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2040131/modules/items/28001652