Modern Managers Need Leadership Skills
Managers and Leaders — Are They Synonyms?
By Mihaela Lica
A manager is the person in charge of commanding and running a
business or a project. Leadership deals with the interpersonal
relations. Managing means planning, developing and organizing.
In the contemporary society leadership qualities along with managing
abilities are a must.
If there is one thing I’ve learnt during my career as a military
TV redactor in the Romanian Ministry of Defence, that is that
leadership has never been simple. In this day and age even military
leaders are confronted with many challenges including bureaucracy,
media influence, internationalisation and changes of cultural
and economic patterns.
One thing is so far clear: a leader is not a ruler or a despot.
His role is to guide, to inspire, to communicate, to build trust
and to direct toward the achievement of goals.
Many managers consider themselves leaders. Well, that’s not entirely
accurate. When a manager is able to persuade a team to complete
some objectives without forcing his authority, then he is demonstrating
leadership qualities. While a leader can be a manager, a manager
is not necessary a leader.
Make no confusions: to be in charge of a team doesn’t automatically
make you a leader. People choose their leaders naturally, based
on personal feelings, most of the times subjective evaluations.
There are some traditional patterns people look for in a leader:
physical appearance, social and personal traits. Studies prove
that tall and handsome men make charismatic leaders. Education
plays a significant role, but not as important as individual qualities
such as charisma, magnetism, reputation and tact. Such leaders
have to be self confident and able to listen to their followers.
While physical appearance cannot be changed, but slightly improved
with the right clothing, other behaviours can be trained.
Leadership Training — Is That Really Necessary?
My answer is yes. Leaders are made, not born. There is no such
a thing as a natural born leader — this is just a label used to
describe a person able to influence others easily. Because everyone
has a natural born capacity to lead, becoming a leader is not
so difficult. To achieve this goal training and learning go hand
in hand.
What should a leader learn? The art of communicating a message
across effectively and clearly is a vital part of being a successful
leader. Speaking is not enough. Important factors, such as understanding
and using body language, listening and writing, fuse to generate
the lifeblood of good communication.
A leader should learn to overcome other’s people barriers when
delivering a message. There are three basic rules to achieve this
goal: be clear in your mind, deliver the message in plain language
and make sure that the idea has been understood.
Cultural differences can make it difficult for some people to
communicate effectively. Germans and Nordics are more restrained
in gesture than many Latin nations, while Americans and Australians
can say exactly what they mean. A “be yourself” approach can
work — there is no better marketing than telling the truth. Be honest,
but not impolite. Do not try to be anyone else or copy another
one's style.
You’ve heard that often: first impressions are very important.
In business and media that’s a proven theory: the first five seconds
of a meeting are more important than the next ten minutes. A faultless
look, even if informal, makes always a good impact: matching decent
colours, impeccable shoes and garments, a proper haircut and no
exaggeration with cologne will not err.
Certainly there’s more to leadership training than one can write
in a short article: from learning the secret of clear communication
both within the team and with the media, to understanding and
using gestures; from learning how to listen to recognizing and
overcoming prejudice (ground rule: think about the words you hear,
not the person saying them); from reading efficiently to taking
notes and improving memory; from using the phone to writing letters
and much more.
Because the contemporary society is continuously changing, modern
managers and leaders need to improve their skills constantly and
to gather knowledge vital for their organizations.
Leadership Theories
In 1960 the Douglas McGregor described two behavioural theories, “Theory X” and “Theory Y”, in his book “The
Human Side of Enterprise”.
Theory X represents the idea of ruling by controlling, the so-called “stick
and carrot” philosophy
of management. According to Freud people are naturally lazy and need to be
controlled or punished
in order to work effectively. Some managers do believe these affirmations.
In the modern society such approaches lead nowhere: employees
get frustrated, feel uncomfortable at work, tend to introvert,
perform just because they are afraid of some consequences and
not because they are motivated. As long as this theory — you can
find a better description of it on the web by typing Douglas McGregor
in any search engine — will influence managers, the real potentials
of an employee will remain hidden.
McGregor’s Theory Y gives prominence to communication and human
interrelations. Managers who create a harmonious working environment
motivate workers. The idea is that a satisfied team will achieve
goals faster and more proficient than a frustrated, fearful team.
Adepts of the Theory Y give confidence to their followers, know
how to listen and how to reward them and support initiative and
creativity. The individual and organizational goals can be integrated.
This is the kind of approach the modern society longs for. People
need to be respected and valued for what and who they are. Although
there are common traits for us all, it’s a wrong approach to generalize.
Why Motivate?
Treat your workers as individuals and soon you will be able to
harvest the fruits of their work. And don’t forget: a “thank
you,
well done” motivates and wins a heart and a won heart means a
step towards attaining loyalty.
To motivate means to understand human nature. Motivation is an
essential factor in the existence and success of a company and
it is a skill which must be learnt. Forget the idea that money
is the prime motivator. Nowadays security is a major stimulus:
unemployment determines workers to appreciate the security of
a job. Well, sure employees will act positively to a raise or
a money prize, but if they don’t like the job, the company or
(yes!) the manager is unlikely that they will perform at their
best.
Conclusion
As people have a normal predisposition to follow certain attitudes,
modern managers and leaders should be careful and conduct by example.
In order to avoid the perception of inconsistency within the management
team, training their leadership skills is a necessity. •
© 2005 Mihaela Lica
About the Author
Mihaela Lica is a skilled journalist and PR consultant, founder
of Pamil Visions — www.pamil-visions.com.
Previously
she used to work as a military TV redactor for Pro Patria and the Military
Media Trust within the Public Relations Directorate of the Romanian Ministry
of Defence.
11/18/05
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