by Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Leadership Solutions, Inc.®

[Please note: This writer became separated from his original notes and quotes for this article two weeks ago, as he ran through a TSA airport security zone en route to an overseas trip. Despite his best efforts, he has not been able to recover these documents at this moment in time. The resulting article was to be based upon an acutely poignant quote from a business journal. Unfortunately, his memory of the quote and intended article has become blurred with time and jet-lag incurred on his long round-trip. For that reason, below are his best related thoughts that probably do not accurately reflect his original intentions. Thank you for your understanding.]

       Effective leaders focus on strategy: Efficient managers focus on implementation.”

    Leaders at their best bring clarity to future pathways for their team or enterprise; while managers at their best bring clarity to detailed implementation plans. Every successful organization needs a dose of both capabilities, but reality demonstrates that executives naturally lean one way or the other regarding these capabilities.

It is crucial for executives to recognize their natural leanings and use those talents accordingly. That way, they will maximize the benefit to their enterprises and themselves. Let’s consider three scenarios:

 »The Efficient Manager – For both historical and current organizational reasons, such executives are clearly in the majority. People usually enter their careers in frontline roles where efficient day-to-day operating skills are crucial. For that reason, quite apart from those who remain naturally gifted strategic thinkers, they become fully grounded and committed to the operational thinking mode.

It becomes their forte to analyze and reformulate daily operations to run as smoothly as possible: aiming for minimal hourly or daily hassles. Those naturally good at these operating areas rise quickly through the operational ranks into more significant roles. They feel comfortable with numbers and recording appropriate daily efficiencies designed to help the bottom-line.

While such attributes are invaluable to owners and shareholders, they are not especially inspirational with regard to their team members. The latter can feel there’s something missing in relationships with their efficient managers, where they see themselves regarded more as a “thing,” a headcount or number; rather than respected as a talented contributor or person. Such feelings accumulate over time to the point where workplace people become somewhat robotic and dissatisfied within their work environment, owing to lack of personal recognition and appreciation.

Usually, their manager’s response toward such an outcome is to award greater incentives and numerical goals to compensate. Where this goes too far, it can become a vicious cycle that eventually leads to flat performance or collapse.

»The Effective Leader – For those talented leaders who somehow escape the operational thinking mode, without being unduly modified by it; they will infuse a much different attitude into their workplace. They will be more strategic and people oriented.

Usually, it will begin with them figuring out potential  pathways – the likely team or organization vision and associated strategies. They are attuned to the notion that their people want to be fully aware of future team or venture intentions. More importantly, they appreciate that their people prefer to be involved with formulating pathways, as it will give them a deeper appreciation of any activities they will be associated with.

Once they have their people on board, such leaders will collaborate with their team members on a regular basis – not to supervise and control them, but to keep them engaged through their progress and contributions. Such regular involvement keeps team members on board, as well as makes people feel their leaders care about them. Their people feel valued as a human beings rather than just being cogs within a system.

Creating such an environment gives people a sense of empowerment, creativity and being respected. Their financial rewards then become somewhat secondary, within reason, and they’re more eager to grow and contribute wherever possible. Environments like this enable ventures to thrive and prosper.

» The Hybrid – A portion of those conditioned to the operational mindset are capable of recognizing the limitations of being just efficient managers. Caught at the right moment, they can be educated into adopting somewhat more of an effective leadership mode: thus becoming perceived as a leadagers…a bit of both.

They are still disposed toward operational thinking, but are now open to the benefits realized from using a “people touch.” At this point, they are more attuned to availing themselves of the tools and techniques associated with being more effective leaders.

It is likely that up to 50% of your future executives-managers will fall into this category, and can be raised out of relying purely on analysis, numbers, goals and systems thinking before it’s too late. Such a partial transition could make a huge difference to your enterprise’s performance by identifying these hybrid people types early on.

  Over the near term, it will be enormously valuable for you to identify these three types within your current executive-manager-leader ranks. Ideally you need to restrict the number of efficient managers, since there’s always a place for up to 30% of them. With regard to effective leaders, you may be lucky enough to have 15-20% of them within your current junior-senior executive ranks. That leaves around 50% of your executive-manager-leaders to become leadagers; that hybrid of efficient management and effective leadership thinkers.

To learn more about these leader-manager modes, talk with: