Blog Post 2 – Managers & Leaders

What distinguishes an assigned leader from an emerging one?

According to Northouse (2019), assigned leaders are those within our organizations who have been given a formal title, like Department Heads or Team Leaders. A title, however, does not guarantee influence. Some of the most influential people within an organization, do not have an assigned title. These people are referred to by Northouse (2019) as being emergent leaders. These are the people who when they speak up at staff meetings, other people stop and listen. They gather followers over a period of time due to their personable nature, likability factor and ability to communicate effectively. Specifically, these people are noticeably involved, informed, seek opinions, initiate new ideas and are firm but not rigid in their viewpoint (Northouse, 2019).  The closer someone appears to be fit in with the group’s objective, the more likely someone with the above characteristics will emerge as a leader (Northouse, 2019). I don’t know about you, but I find that when it comes to forming groups or teams (especially when it comes to content with which I might not be very familiar),  I am always drawn to working with those individuals who are confident, and who appear to know their stuff well, who are easygoing and approachable.  These are personality traits Northouse (2019) mentions  that were found to be directly related to leadership emergence in Smith and Foti’s (1998) study of 160 male college students.  They specially narrowed down their results to three primary traits; confidence, dominance and intelligence (Northouse, 2019, p.8).

Before this year, I didn’t know a lot about Career Education at the high school level. In fact, I had never even taught in a high school.  After teaching elementary and middle school,  I decided one day that  I would really like to teach in a high school.  So when a brand new opportunity opened up, I leaped at it!  After a two and a half hour long interview, I was offered the position.  As excited as I was, I was very nervous and felt woefully inadequate. I read everything that I could get my hands on and relied on my professional network as a sounding board and a place to ask questions.  I attended every single meeting and conference that I could.  A lot of these meetings take place at the School Board Office with representatives from other high schools and members of the District Instructional team.  I began to feel more confident in my knowledge of the curriculum, and was happy to share the highs and lows of Career Education that we were experimenting with and experiencing at my high school.  It hasn’t  been an easy year trying out new ideas and embedding new curriculum, and I was really vulnerable in sharing some of the challenges that were faced.  I was a little bit surprised when other members started to email me questions, asked to meet with me outside of these meetings to learn more about what we were doing, and began to ask to be a part of my group during meetings. Less than seven months in,  I have now been invited to be a part of the District team in creating new curriculum outline drafts and to speak at the province wide Career Education conference in Vancouver next year.  I am actually amazed and to be brutally honest, I feel rather fraudulent as I think I still have so much to learn from others.  I’m about to be very vulnerable in admitting that what is most interesting to me is that while I have gained recognition as an emerging leader by individuals at other schools and within the school district,  I am struggling at times to build credibility in my career role within my own school with staff members.  This is something that I would like to examine further and reflect as to why that is and what I can do better.

Are managers considered leaders?  Can one exist without the other?

I became most excited while reading Northouse’s differentiation between management and leadership, at one point even writing the word ‘YES!’ in huge capital letters with a huge exclamation point and underlined twice for special emphasis in the blank space at the side of the page.  What I was reading made perfect sense to me!  I could personally relate to what he was referring to on several levels.

There seems to be a misconception that exists, that if someone has the title of Manager that they are the leader. While, most of us have had the opportunity to work with people who are great at keeping order and stability in our workplaces and at managing , it is important to note that just because someone is a great manager of procedures and information, it does not mean that they are a leader. Northouse (2019) explains, that management was only created at the start of the 20th century as a means to provide structure and assist with creating order out of chaos. In contrast, leadership is a centuries old method of producing positive change and upward mobility (Northouse, 2019).

That’s not to say, one can exist without the other. They are co-dependent as Northouse (2019) states when he quotes Kotter (1990, pp. 7-8);

“Both management and leadership are essential if an organization is to prosper. To be effective, organizations need to nourish both competent management and skilled leadership (Northouse, 2019, p.12)”.

Steve Jobs is the classic example of a leader who was visionary in his approach, able to see the big picture,  and align the people to build the teams. He was inspiring and energizing to listen to and his employees were empowered to be creative. Once a vision was established, Steve Jobs left the rest of the day to day organizational tasks to his management team and he continued to concentrate on creating positive change. A young Steve Jobs talks about this here.  These are all functions that Northouse (2019) clearly defines and outlines in an easy to read chart form.  Managers plan and budget where leaders establish direction; managers organize and staff while leaders align people; managers control and solve problems while leaders motivate and inspire (Northouse, 2019).  He summarizes by stating simply that, “Management produces order and consistency while leadership produces change and movement (Northouse, 2019, p. 13)”.  Bennis and Nanus (2007) whom Northouse (2019) refers to, stated that; “to manage means to accomplish activities and master routines, whereas to lead means to influence others and create visions for change (p.13).”

One of my favourite things that Northouse (2019) shares is his quote also from Bennis and Nanus (2007), while distinguishing the difference between managers and leaders;  “Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing (p. 13)”.   This was key for me. Doing things right isn’t always the right thing! How many times have we heard the familiar,  impassionate, deadpan reply, “We’ve always done it this way” or “That’s how things are done here” whenever we’ve questioned a process. Leaders don’t just continue to do what has always been done, but they are able to look beyond the here and the now and can create vision and see the big picture.

I thoroughly enjoyed the exploration of Simonet and Tett’s study (2012) that Northouse (2019) refers to  where  “Leadership was distinguished by motivating intrinsically, creative thinking, strategic planning, tolerance of ambiguity, and being able to read people. Management was distinguished by rule orientation, short-term planning, motivating extrinsically, orderliness, safety concerns,  and timelines (p. 14).” This especially appealed to me on a personal level as I sometimes  run into and can become quite frustrated by what I would have perceived as managerial roadblocks before reading this chapter.  I found myself initially shaking my head in agreement at what Northouse (2019) shares about Zaleznik (1977), and his findings that; “managers tend to be reactive, have low emotional involvement and limit choices whereas leaders are emotionally active and involved (p. 14)”.  However, after reflecting and digesting the material, I am able to acknowledge and respect the need for both management and leadership within an organization in order to be successful, and understand that both managers and leaders can influence others in their specific capacities.   I appreciated the opportunity to challenge some of my previous misconceptions and stereotyping that I was guilty of at times. Leaders and managers both serve a purpose and those purposes do overlap in order to successfully meet an organization’s common objectives and goals.

Do you ever find yourself chafing at what feels like stifling organizational rules that you see as limiting potential and being reactive instead of proactive?  As it pertains to Bennis and Nanus’ quote “Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing (2007, p. 221).” How would you (after giving it some time to observe and reflect) as an emerging leader (or an assigned leader) question process and promote change respectfully?