Will That Be Leadership Or Management Development? Integrating the Right Hand With the Left Hand

IntroductionDuring the 1990s, the topic of leadership took on new meaning and interest in organizations. As with many business fads (e.g. total quality management, business process reengineering, and knowledge management), the numbers of articles and books on leadership exploded to serve the insatiable appetites of business people, HR practitioners, and the public in general. Interest in the field of management diminished, while people explored such topics as spiritual leadership; the learning organization concept and its implications for shared leadership; women as leaders; lessons from such notable individuals as Gandhi, Thatcher and Churchill; and Native teachings.While the plethora of new books and articles on leadership has contributed in an important way to raising the level of awareness and understanding on the subject, it has also created confusion, and perhaps more importantly, relegated management as a discipline to the back burner. It is only in the past decade where some prominent thinkers and writers have begun to stress the importance of management practices in organizations and the need to integrate this discipline with that of leadership development. While the two are distinct, they are nevertheless interrelated.In a period of discontinuous change (that change is not smooth but rather comes in unpredictable bursts), the interlinking of management and leadership development is extremely important. No longer can organizations afford to address the two fields as separate silos. Instead, a systems approach is required to ensure that an organization’s managers develop good management practices and solid leadership abilities. Combined, the two fields will ensure that those in management positions are able to deal with discontinuous change, and that their staff possess the necessary competencies to learn continuously, explore opportunities, innovate, and serve clients to the highest degree possible.The QuestionBefore an organization jumps into developing a management and leadership development model, it is essential that the question be asked: who is a leader in the organization? Is leadership specific to management positions? If so, then leadership is positional in the organizational hierarchy. Or is leadership seen by senior management as being more inclusive, in which employees throughout the organization are encouraged to develop their leadership abilities?This is a key question to pose because it creates a common vocabulary and set of expectations in an organization. From this will emerge a culture that is defined on how leadership is perceived and practiced.The issue of leadership versus management development becomes a moot point if leadership in an organization is defined as being the domain of management. As we will see below, approaching the two fields as separate entities only further deepens the rift between them, contributing to misunderstandings throughout an organization, the ineffective use of training funds, and limited progress in creating effective managerial leaders.If an organization chooses the path of participative leadership, as it recreates its corporate culture, the challenge will be how to create a model that reflects both management and leadership development. For employees in management positions, there is a rapidly growing need to have an approach (or program) that embraces both management and leadership competencies. For aspiring managers, these employees need to be factored into the process. The urgency for this is rising as the existing management cadre begins to retire in large numbers over the next few years. Those seeking to move into management are the succession pool, and hence require sustained attention in terms of their developmental needs.For employees who do not aspire to be managers, or who will not progress to this level, the added challenge is how to encourage their leadership development, in the context of their participating more in decision-making and in taking more initiative. This assumes that senior management wishes to support the creation of a ‘leaderful’ organization because of the benefits this would bring.The next section looks at what a number of leading thinkers are saying on management and leadership.Management versus LeadershipThe relationship between leadership and management has been described by Kotter (2001) as “…two distinctive and complementary systems of action.” While each field has its own unique characteristics and functions, both are essential for managers if they are to operate successfully in complex organizations that are subject to continuous change. To focus on leadership development may produce strong leaders, but the consequence will be weak management. And the converse is true. How to combine strong leadership and strong management, so that there is balance, is the real challenge.Similarly, Drucker (1998) sees the interrelationship between the two. He does not believe that management and leadership can be separated. He states it is “…nonsense*as much nonsense as separating management from entrepreneurship. Those are part and parcel of the same job. They are different to be sure, but only as different as the right hand from the left or the nose from the mouth. They belong to the same body.”A third perspective is that of Henry Mintzberg, noted for his early empirical work on what managers do. In an interview with CBC’s Ideas in 1999, he explained that managers “…sit between their organizations and the outside world….they manage information in order to encourage people to take action.” Where does leadership fit in his perspectives on organizations? The long lists of attributes and characteristics of leaders leads Mintzberg to state: “…Superman’s abilities are modest in comparison. We list everything imaginable.” For Mintzberg, good leaders are candid, open, honest, and share information with people.From this brief review of what three leading management thinkers have expressed, one outcome facing organizations with respect to their leadership climate may be described as follows: When an individual enters an organization that is functioning well, one is able to sense it. Some call this the “smell of the place”. It becomes very apparent in this type of organizational climate that there is abundant energy present, and that this energy is focused. People enjoy going to work everyday because they understand where they fit into the organization’s vision and what their roles and responsibilities are. They are committed.This is the challenge, therefore, of weaving together the roles of management and leadership so that they form a coherent whole, with respect to how the works get done in organizations. But what can we say about the key distinctions and complementarities between management and leadership?Management & Leadership as FunctionsIncreasingly, managers must deal with complexity in their organizations and the surrounding environment. In the absence of good management practices, organizations fall into chaos, which in turn threatens their survival. Thus, one can say that management brings order to organizations and consistency to their products and services. Leadership, in contrast, involves coping with change. In a world experiencing economic and societal turbulence, this key feature of leadership is becoming increasingly valuable to organizations.These two features, coping with complexity and change, shape the functions of management and leadership. In the real world, therefore, managers have three essential tasks to perform. First, they must determine the work that needs to be done by their staff. Second, to accomplish this work people must work laterally, often forming networks. Managers are conduits to ensuring that this occurs. And third, they must ensure that the work gets done properly and on time.Management and leadership, while both addressing these tasks, approach them from different perspectives.PlanningPlanning, budgeting, and resource allocation are activities initiated through the management function in an effort to address the issue of complexity. As a management process, planning is about producing orderly results, not about change. Leadership, on the other hand, involves creating a vision to chart a course for the organization. As part of this process, strategies are developed to initiate and sustain the needed changes to stay focused on the vision. How this is done is critical to helping move an organization towards its vision.OrganizingTo reach its goals, management organizes and hires. This involves creating an organizational structure, including a set of job descriptions, that will enable the organization to achieve these goals. Through this process of organizing and staffing, management develops delegation authorities and monitoring systems. It also creates communication plans to ensure that employees understand what is taking place.But the management function needs the opposing hand of leadership to assist it, namely in aligning people. Communication becomes a critical activity here, especially in regard to ensuring that all employees understand the vision.ControllingManagement must also ensure that the plan is achieved, and it is does this through controlling and problem-solving. Monitoring plays an important role here. In contrast, leadership requires that people are motivated and inspired to work towards a vision, despite setbacks and unforeseen problems.What does this mean for Management/Leadership Development?This paper has shown that while management and leadership do indeed possess some distinct differences, there is also a complementarity that is emerging. The growth in knowledge work and the expectations of workers (e.g., Generation Y) are strongly influencing how both leadership and management are practices. Work still needs to be planned, organized, directed, coordinated, monitored, etc. But the context is changing rapidly, both from an externally driven, discontinuous change perspective, and from within – the values people possess and what motivates and inspires them.How organizations approach management and leadership development is critical to their eventual success, let alone their long-term survival. And as noted at the outset, one of the first questions that must be asked is “How do we define leadership in our organization?”ReferencesDrucker, Peter. (Sept. 1998). Feature Interview with Peter Drucker. Training & Development Magazine.
Kotter, John. (Reprint Dec. 2001) What Leaders Really Do. Harvard Business Review. pp. 85-87.
Mintzberg, Henry. In Conversation. CBC Ideas. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1999.

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Reach For Success

My daughter’s team recently won the state volleyball championship. Watching her and the whole team grow and develop throughout the season has been a real inspiration. No matter how hard your struggle may be, no matter where you are coming from, even when the chips are down and when no one else believes you can win, YOU MUST NEVER GIVE UP!My daughter is in high school. Last year their team lost 5 seniors who graduated, so this year they were not expected to have a winning season. But this team had the WILL TO WIN. Even in the championship game, when they were down 2 games to 0, and you must win 3 games to win the match, they did not stop trying. They maintained a fighting spirit, gave it all they had, and encouraged each other to the end. They came back and won the last 3 games to win the state title.The state championship has inspired me and I wish to share what I have learned about success and how to achieve it. This was written for Internet affiliate marketers, but the strategies can be applied to any endeavor.————————————–How do you spell success?S-tart with the basics!U-nderstand your program.C-reate your business plan.C-ommunicate with your team members.E-ducate yourself.S-pend wisely.S-tay the Course!Start with the basics! Every new affiliate comes into a program with a different level of knowledge &
experience. Start with what you know. Try to learn something new every day. Introduce yourself to your sponsor and/or team leader. Ask questions! You can usually trust your upline because they have a vested interest in your success, and when you succeed, they succeed. Rely on your sponsor and/or team leaders for guidance, but don’t expect them to do everything for you. Each team member must put forth some effort in order for the whole team to win.Understand your program. Familiarize yourself with the products and the compensation plan. You cannot successfully promote something of which you have limited or no knowledge.Create your business plan. Make up a daily schedule of varied marketing activities. Don’t count on just one method or strategy. Try different types of marketing campaigns, and go with the ones that produce results.Communicate with your team members. Do something to spark a response. Get them involved and excited about your program. As you may have you heard “the Fortune is in the Follow up!”Educate yourself. Research new marketing methods. The Internet and the world are ever-changing entities, so the methods that worked yesterday may not work today. Stay on top of current marketing trends.Spend wisely. It takes money to make money; every successful business had to spend some money to get where they are. Wise spending involves (1) taking advantage of free offers if they are truly free, (2) before spending a lot of money on advertising, do a little research on how successful that particular advertising method has been for others, and (3) never spend money you cannot afford to lose.”Stay the Course!” Success does not come over-night. It takes time and effort. Allow at least 6 months to a year of consistent marketing before you throw in the towel. Way too many affiliates give up too soon, and never make any money, even with very successful and lucrative programs.————————————–You know the old adage, “Winners never quit, and quitters never win”. There is a lot of truth to this. If you really want to reach your goals, you must persevere through the tough times, and never quit. There may come a time when you find you need to take a different road to get there, and that’s ok. Make adjustments, push on, and never quit!

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Anti-Aging Secrets to Reverse the Process of Aging

For many years now both the general population and the researchers of the world have been continuously finding some kind of anti-aging secrets to reverse or slow down the process of aging in order to have a youthful look for many years to come.It is very natural that as we get older we are all looking for anti-aging solutions to reduce wrinkles. In order to improve your physical appearance, skin care and reduce wrinkles, some of the tips in the succeeding paragraphs would prove very useful.To meet the demand of the anti-aging phenomenon, the market is full of anti aging supplements and other “wonder” cures promising to slow down your aging process. It must be done through supplements and diet. Look for the most powerful antioxidants.We all know about the effect of free radicals on aging and degenerative disease. Therefore there is a need to take in lots of antioxidants through your diet or supplements to counter the free radicals inside our body.But not all antioxidants are the same. Many anti aging supplements are claimed by the manufacturers to be able to promote antioxidant capabilities but they fail to inform the market that their products contain only the less effective and cheaper antioxidants such as vitamin C.Any good antioxidant supplements should contain potent antioxidants like L-Glutathione, green tea, gingko biloba, grape extract, alpha lipoic acid, lutein and especially selenium.Selenium has been associated with reduced incidence of skin cancer and it slows down the process of aging. As a result, it preserves soft, youthful skin texture. Sources of selenium include garlic, whole grains, tuna, eggs and Brazil nuts which has the highest concentration of selenium.Do not forget about vitamin E. You could use it both topically and internally. Vitamin E is also one of the more important anti-aging antioxidants. Lack of vitamin E in skin has been linked to an increase in the amount of wrinkling.Wrinkles are also a cumulative result of damage due to the exposure to sun (i.e.UV light), free radical and gravity. Most of the so-called anti-wrinkle creams on the market do not deliver the results we expect because the molecules of the active ingredients are too big to penetrate the skin to make a difference.On the other hand, using a few key vitamins and supplements mentioned earlier will produce better results than any wrinkle cream at sometimes a lower cost. Therefore it is advisable that before you start spending tones of money on anti-aging creams just try some of the vitamins and supplements while using at the same time a good sun block and products that are clinically proven to be a wrinkle cure (i.e. Retin-A and glycolic acid).You should replace all the bad fats namely the trans fats and saturated fats with good fats such as polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats in your diet. All the good fats have anti-aging effect and they can be found in a lot of fish, legumes, nuts, and walnuts, for instance, foods containing omega-3 are mostly polyunsaturated fats while olive oil is mostly monounsaturated fats.Finally always add vegetables and fruits to your die on a daily basis because they contain natural sources of vitamins and antioxidants. Fruits that would make you look good include apples, oranges, berries, kiwi, grapes and grape fruit.The above mentioned anti-aging secrets could help you prevent the premature onslaught aging which would allow you to continue to have healthy, glowing and young looking skins for many years to come.

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