Titles Don't Make Leaders

If you take a look at job titles in the technology world you'll see a number of them similar to “IT Manager”, “Development Manager” and Quality Assurance Manager”.  What you don’t typically see is “IT Leader” or “Thought Leader”.  While you will see the desire for a “leader” somewhere in the job description it seems to be secondary to the term “manager”.  This seems to create a perception that leadership is a sub-component of management and that is not the case.  Management and leadership are two different things that rely on different sets of skills. 

First, you may ask what the difference is.  You may say that your organization's leadership team consists of managers and above.  This is pretty typical.  I think all managers like to pretend that they are leaders so they create “leadership teams”.  However, based on my experience, these teams are often lacking in leadership qualities.  Management can be seen as somewhat scientific (even if most managers do not use a scientific approach).  In the realm of management there are often formulas and frameworks that have been developed over many years to address various choices.  Furthermore, many managerial decisions are driven by either formal or informal rules.  For instance, if I am running a project that experiences a change in scope, I might add “resources”, extend timelines or cut scope from another area.  No matter which move I make, it will be a matter of getting the numbers to work.

Leadership is a different animal. I view leadership as how we get things done when we have no formal authority.  Leadership involves the intangibles or gray areas.  In the example above, you may have noticed that I put quotes around the word “resources”.  The reason for this is that managers quite often think of resources while leaders are thinking of people.  If you need an additional 20 hours of work performed, it is not a “resource” that will do that work.  That work will be accomplished by a person.   Yes, I mean a real person with good days and bad; with family and friends; even a personality and options.  I know you project management types out there are scratching your heads but it’s true.  In the example above, the leader will be the one who has the ability to motivate the team, keep morale up and get the team to buy in to the changes.  This is typically accomplished through soft skills, relationships and power bases.

Being a true leader is not an easy task and the subject would take much longer than one article to fully develop.  For now, recognize the difference between management and leadership.  If you are a fellow manager and you are wondering if you are also a leader, ask yourself what would happen if your organization took away your title tomorrow.  Would your team still follow you?