Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Leadership vs. Management
"Excellent management can provide excellent results when working within an automated factory and working with machines, but excellent management will not always produce excellent results when dealing with people." When I think of a manager I think of my first boss out of college who was only concerned with my performance and not my development. His main concern was that I met my monthly sales and that I was on time every morning. He seldom affirmed my strengths or challenged me to grow and develop. He was a manager who was concerned about production; not a leader who was focused on development. But how do we lead people rather than manage people? The author of the above quote insists that leaders need to motivate and encourage people by focusing on people's strengths rather than their weaknesses. The author claims that when a leader attempts to correct weaknesses, the leader wastes valuable time and often de-motivates people. Instead, people are best motivated when their strengths are affirmed. While I agree that leaders must identify, affirm and develop the strengths of the individuals they are leading, I also think that leaders within the Church must address weakness; specifically when weaknesses demonstrate a need for character development. A Church leader's primary goal should not be only to develop people's strengths, but a leader should also challenge individuals to develop in a holistic manner to be the people God is calling them to be. Now, I do think that we should affirm people's strengths far more often than we challenge their weaknesses. However, if we only focus on developing people's strengths, I think we are practicing a form of corporate leadership rather than biblical leadership.
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Baldree,
ReplyDeleteLove it. I think you’re wise to point out the difference between managing and leading, or at least the need to understand these concepts differently. I agree with you that the author’s position is a little narrow in scope. Leading is doing much more than simply encouraging and magnifying the strengths. In my experience, I have a different name for someone who does is only an encourager, well two names, cheerleader or kiss-up.
This system also avoids different peoples/personalities needs for motivation. I know that if one tried to motivate my wife and I the same way, it would not go well. I would laugh at the things that motivate my wife and she’d likely cry at the things that motivate me.
Also, like you, I don’t want to focus on people’s weakness, or center my leadership on that, but there are times when one’s weaknesses, of moral character, or confused calling, and the like must be challenged. To ignore what one is doing wrong is to eliminate opportunity for development of skills that don’t come naturally. I know that I am now quite good at things that were antithetical to my natural tendencies, because I was challenged, even forced into developing excellence in those areas.