Leader
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From Manager to Leader, The Steps From Leslie L. Kossoff First Steps Where to start? Begin by discovering exactly what your convictions are. Clarify and codify for yourself what you believe in. Then, take a nice step back and see how those beliefs are playing out in the organization as it stands today. Don't start with an organizational assessment based on the numbers or your opinions about others. This is not about "them." This is all about you. Ask yourself:
• • • • • •
What is important to me? What are my values, beliefs, ethics? How am I demonstrating those values, beliefs and ethics every day? Is the larger organization designed to support my values, beliefs and ethics? Where are the disconnects ¡V within my immediate organization and for myself with the larger enterprise? What can I do to change how I behave with my immediate organization to demonstrate my belief in them? What additional assistance do my employees need to succeed ¡V and how can I ensure that they get everything they need and more to create personal and organizational success? Realistically, you'll go through this process not once, but many, many times. This is a periodic reality and cross-check to see how you're doing in your own context and, as you begin making changes, in the larger context. Because, while you can and should expect yourself and your immediate organization to make changes, you cannot - and should not - expect the larger organization to immediately respond or follow suit. This is a personal journey designed to assist you in being more - and helping those whose lives you touch to be more. Give the organization time. It'll get there. It's just a little bit slow. What's Next? As you identify your convictions and begin aligning your behaviors with those convictions, you are going to need to take steps to build a collaborative culture based on where you're going. To do that, seek input from your employees about what they need and what their dreams are for their jobs and the larger organization. (They have them, you know). Talk to internal and external customers and suppliers about their needs. Find out what more and what else you can be and do to create success. Enroll and engage in conversation and communication. Sit back. Listen. Take in as much as you can. Look for trends and themes. Find out where the possibilities are - the connects and disconnects that you can effect. Be more. Be all those things you always believed about yourself - and usually bring to the rest of your life. Leaders aren't made or born. Leadership is a choice - a belief in and commitment to everything that is good and noble within you. Be a leader. Are You a Manager, a Leader, or Both? By Jill Geisler (more by author) Leadership & Management Group Leader
The Poynter Institute offers programs under the heading of "Leadership and Management." Why not just leadership, or just management? What's the difference between the two? Is one more important than the other? My view is that there is clearly a difference between the two. Not every manager is a leader. Not every leader is a manager. You can be both, if you choose to. Social scientists have devoted large chunks of their brainpower to defining and differentiating the concepts of leadership and management. Here's a quick tour of some of their thinking, starting with observations from leadership scholars John Kotter and Warren Bennis:
A manager...
A leader...
John Kotter
· · · ·
copes with complexity plans and budgets organizes and staffs controls and problem-solves
· · · ·
copes with change sets a direction aligns people motivates people
Warren Bennis
· · · · ·
promotes efficiency is a good soldier imitates accepts the status quo does things right
· · · · ·
promotes effectiveness is his or her own person originates challenges does the right things
After reading those lists, it is tempting to see managers as lesser beings than leaders, drudges who feed the machine while leaders create visions of a better world. But consider how difficult life is when our managers don't deliver for us. Managers oversee, among other things:
• • • • • • • • •
work schedules internal/external communication procuring and protecting our tools and technology hiring training evaluating holding people accountable developing systems collaboration across groups
That small sample demonstrates the importance of managers to organizations. It is why another leadership thinker, Joseph C. Rost, criticizes those who "denigrate management to ennoble leadership." He praises managers for bringing order, stability, and predictability to the workplace. Journalists who have worked in newsrooms without those characteristics can offer a hearty "amen" (which explains why Poynter teaches leadership and management). But Rost opens an important door, too. He argues that management is about authority, and leadership is about influence. That, I believe, is a clear and critical distinction. Managers have the authority to make things happen. They can do it by force (reward and punishment), by simply "pulling rank." That’s authority. But managers who lead, and leaders who aren't managers, reach goals through influence. Influence comes from trust -- from a person's expertise, integrity, and empathy as perceived by others. Maximum influence accrues to those who are strong in all three areas. As I see it, people are required to follow managers. They choose to follow leaders. Now, want to take things a step farther? Then consider that there are different levels of leadership. Back in 1978, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and leadership scholar James MacGregor Burns advanced his theory about two types of leadership: transactional and transformational. Transactional leadership is largely a good deal between individuals; the leader wants to achieve something and offers inducements to the follower. But transformational leaders achieve more. Burns believes they raise both the leader and the follower to higher levels of motivation and morality. Does "transformational leadership" sound lofty and unattainable to you? Do you have to be heroic or charismatic to achieve it? Not at all. Each of us, managers and non-managers, has the ability to turn the routine transactions of our lives into something better. What it takes is dedication to the people, not just the product. If you want to lead at this level, consider these commitments, and whether they reflect your leadership philosophy:
• • • • •
The people I lead are more than a means to an end. I help people achieve a genuine sense of purpose in our work; values matter. I find opportunities for people to grow and their ideas to be heard. I learn what motivates people, both intrinsically and extrinsically; I don't assume. I value people as individuals, and give them individualized attention.
If you take a second look at those commitments, you'll note that they easily apply to a person with the title of manager, if that manager wants to be known as a high-level leader. But they can be embraced just as easily by a person with no title at all other than "colleague." News organizations need good managers; they also need leaders at every level. Have you considered stepping up?
• • • • • •
What is important to me? What are my values, beliefs, ethics? How am I demonstrating those values, beliefs and ethics every day? Is the larger organization designed to support my values, beliefs and ethics? Where are the disconnects ¡V within my immediate organization and for myself with the larger enterprise? What can I do to change how I behave with my immediate organization to demonstrate my belief in them? What additional assistance do my employees need to succeed ¡V and how can I ensure that they get everything they need and more to create personal and organizational success? Realistically, you'll go through this process not once, but many, many times. This is a periodic reality and cross-check to see how you're doing in your own context and, as you begin making changes, in the larger context. Because, while you can and should expect yourself and your immediate organization to make changes, you cannot - and should not - expect the larger organization to immediately respond or follow suit. This is a personal journey designed to assist you in being more - and helping those whose lives you touch to be more. Give the organization time. It'll get there. It's just a little bit slow. What's Next? As you identify your convictions and begin aligning your behaviors with those convictions, you are going to need to take steps to build a collaborative culture based on where you're going. To do that, seek input from your employees about what they need and what their dreams are for their jobs and the larger organization. (They have them, you know). Talk to internal and external customers and suppliers about their needs. Find out what more and what else you can be and do to create success. Enroll and engage in conversation and communication. Sit back. Listen. Take in as much as you can. Look for trends and themes. Find out where the possibilities are - the connects and disconnects that you can effect. Be more. Be all those things you always believed about yourself - and usually bring to the rest of your life. Leaders aren't made or born. Leadership is a choice - a belief in and commitment to everything that is good and noble within you. Be a leader. Are You a Manager, a Leader, or Both? By Jill Geisler (more by author) Leadership & Management Group Leader
The Poynter Institute offers programs under the heading of "Leadership and Management." Why not just leadership, or just management? What's the difference between the two? Is one more important than the other? My view is that there is clearly a difference between the two. Not every manager is a leader. Not every leader is a manager. You can be both, if you choose to. Social scientists have devoted large chunks of their brainpower to defining and differentiating the concepts of leadership and management. Here's a quick tour of some of their thinking, starting with observations from leadership scholars John Kotter and Warren Bennis:
A manager...
A leader...
John Kotter
· · · ·
copes with complexity plans and budgets organizes and staffs controls and problem-solves
· · · ·
copes with change sets a direction aligns people motivates people
Warren Bennis
· · · · ·
promotes efficiency is a good soldier imitates accepts the status quo does things right
· · · · ·
promotes effectiveness is his or her own person originates challenges does the right things
After reading those lists, it is tempting to see managers as lesser beings than leaders, drudges who feed the machine while leaders create visions of a better world. But consider how difficult life is when our managers don't deliver for us. Managers oversee, among other things:
• • • • • • • • •
work schedules internal/external communication procuring and protecting our tools and technology hiring training evaluating holding people accountable developing systems collaboration across groups
That small sample demonstrates the importance of managers to organizations. It is why another leadership thinker, Joseph C. Rost, criticizes those who "denigrate management to ennoble leadership." He praises managers for bringing order, stability, and predictability to the workplace. Journalists who have worked in newsrooms without those characteristics can offer a hearty "amen" (which explains why Poynter teaches leadership and management). But Rost opens an important door, too. He argues that management is about authority, and leadership is about influence. That, I believe, is a clear and critical distinction. Managers have the authority to make things happen. They can do it by force (reward and punishment), by simply "pulling rank." That’s authority. But managers who lead, and leaders who aren't managers, reach goals through influence. Influence comes from trust -- from a person's expertise, integrity, and empathy as perceived by others. Maximum influence accrues to those who are strong in all three areas. As I see it, people are required to follow managers. They choose to follow leaders. Now, want to take things a step farther? Then consider that there are different levels of leadership. Back in 1978, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and leadership scholar James MacGregor Burns advanced his theory about two types of leadership: transactional and transformational. Transactional leadership is largely a good deal between individuals; the leader wants to achieve something and offers inducements to the follower. But transformational leaders achieve more. Burns believes they raise both the leader and the follower to higher levels of motivation and morality. Does "transformational leadership" sound lofty and unattainable to you? Do you have to be heroic or charismatic to achieve it? Not at all. Each of us, managers and non-managers, has the ability to turn the routine transactions of our lives into something better. What it takes is dedication to the people, not just the product. If you want to lead at this level, consider these commitments, and whether they reflect your leadership philosophy:
• • • • •
The people I lead are more than a means to an end. I help people achieve a genuine sense of purpose in our work; values matter. I find opportunities for people to grow and their ideas to be heard. I learn what motivates people, both intrinsically and extrinsically; I don't assume. I value people as individuals, and give them individualized attention.
If you take a second look at those commitments, you'll note that they easily apply to a person with the title of manager, if that manager wants to be known as a high-level leader. But they can be embraced just as easily by a person with no title at all other than "colleague." News organizations need good managers; they also need leaders at every level. Have you considered stepping up?
