Great Managers and Great Leaders
Last week, I attended a webinar called "The Practice of Great Managers and Leaders" by Marcus Buckingham. Buckingham pointed out the importance of managers to their employees. It is the manager who makes the difference when all other variables (compensation, department culture, nature of the job) remain the same. How long employees stay and their level of productivity depends on their managers. The right managers inspire their teams to maximize their talents towards success.
Buckingham also noted that while some managers "play checkers," good managers "play chess." In checkers, all pieces are the same; in chess, each piece is unique and moves in a different way. Good managers use their employees strategically, knowing that they don't all work the same way. They put their employees in positions where they can use their natural strengths. How do you know about your natural strengths? Buckingham suggests that you reflect on those times when you are naturally successful, those activities that you look forward to in a week, those things that intrigue you, and what it is that fulfills your needs. Only 17% of Americans state that they have the opportunity to use their strengths at work. While managers have a responsibility to make the most of their employees' strengths, certainly employees have a responsibility for self-identifying their strengths and sharing those with their managers.
Organizations also have leaders. These are optimistic individuals who believe in a better future. They rally people towards this future and provide clarity of purpose and about what it looks like. Complementing how managers capitalize on individual strengths, leaders tap into our common or universal traits and strengths. Workplaces need both managers and leaders in order to achieve success - we need to capitalize on the great individual and diverse talents of our incredible employees, while simultaneously moving together into the future towards a common purpose. As Buckingham notes, some people can be both great managers and great leaders.
I am interested in knowing your thoughts about Buckingham's analysis. You can always provide feedback on my blogs by clicking on the "comments" link below. Please know that you can make your feedback anonymous to everyone (including me) if you wish.
posted by Neal R. Hoss @ 12:15 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Neal,
Thanks for the information identifying good managers and optimistic leaders. While I have spent my career taking advantage of the different strengths of my employees and being always maintaining a positive and upbeat attitude, I have never gleaned the checker vs. chess analogy. Great analogy.... I have already used it once today.
Here is another one.... honor your superiors, respect your peers and serve your subordinates.
Have a great weekend
Okay, I'm trying to understand the differences between managers and leaders. I always thought that employees advance from basically doing their own job to being a supervisor, then a manager, then a director, and so on. Are you saying that it doesn't work that way?
Good question. The path for career advancement that you described is certainly a common one. I think Marcus Buckingham's description of managers and leaders is more about their traits, rather than about where they are on their career path. So in that sense, the term "manager" may not be the same thing that we think of in our daily use of the word, or as a box on an organization chart. If one can be both a leader and a manager at the same time, then it really doesn't matter what their job title is; good managers are strategic and capitalize on the individual strengths of employees, while good leaders express their vision of the future with clarity and capitalize on our common strengths and tendencies. And some people are good at both.
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