Too often, leadership and management are treated as opposing forces. But what if the real value lies in knowing how and when to switch between them? Paul Matthews explores how modern managers can blend both to get results without the drama, and why clinging to old distinctions just doesn’t work

We often hear that leadership is somehow superior to management – as if one is purely about vision and inspiration, while the other is only about checklists and control. But this way of thinking does more harm than good. In reality, good managers need both leadership and management skills, and the trick lies in using the right blend at the right moment. Let’s challenge this false divide and explore a more practical view – one that reflects the messy, shifting nature of real work and real people. 

Management requires a vast array of skills, one of which is leadership 

Someone asked me today about the difference between leadership and management, and the way he said it, he seemed to think that managers were somehow lesser beings than leaders. He seemed to have fallen for this notion that managers should aspire to be leaders, that any self-respecting manager, when asked what they are going to be when they grow up, will say, “I want to be a leader” and look longingly into the distance. 

There are any number of quotes and pithy statements about the difference between management skills and leadership. One of the classics is attributed to both Warren Bennis and Peter Drucker: “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” I think this apparent separation is unfortunate and encourages people to think that they are either a leader, or only a manager.  

Look at it this way…

Maybe a more useful way to think of it is that management requires a vast array of skills, one of which is leadership. Some management roles require very little in the way of leadership skills or time spent doing leadership-type things; and some management roles require considerable leadership skill and are spent mostly doing leadership-type things. And every combination in between, depending on the situation. 

The trick, therefore, is not being either one or the other but bringing the right mixture of skills at the right time to get the job done. And this mixture will vary as you navigate your day as a manager/leader. 

Beware of the bias

This trick becomes more difficult when we factor in the bias that most of us have towards management-type activities. Management seems to be more predictable, more ‘manageable’. It tends to operate on a more easily understood cause and effect model. If I pull this lever here, then a predictable result will happen over there. It also tends to be reactive and concerned with what is directly in front of us. We gravitate towards that certainty and predictability.  

Leadership activities, on the other hand, must deal with the unpredictability of people. Leadership needs to be future oriented and creative. There is always a whiff of uncertainty about leadership. Indeed, one of things that some leadership programmes teach people is to look like you know what you are doing, even if you don’t. 

If the job of a manager is to get people to do what needs to be done, then the role their leadership skills must play is to get those people to want to do what needs to be done. If you don’t do enough leadership stuff, you will find yourself working harder as a manager to get the same results. 

Paul Matthews is the founder and CEO of People Alchemy and author of the Learning at Work trilogy