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

          “Conventional managers: Light fires under people….whereas…Enlightened leaders: Light fires within people.”

These are just some of the differentiators between conventional management (CM) and enlightened leadership (EL). Your question is likely to be: “Which is prone to be the more favorable culture?” We’ll let you draw your own conclusions from this article’s various perspectives.

An important point to make at this juncture is that you cannot just divine your favored culture and expect it to happen overnight or even happen at all. Building a favorable culture is rather like the task that your mother faced when she set about cooking a meat stew. A lot of ingredients went into her pot. Then she had to slowly stew her concoction with applied but consistent heat, along with regular stirring to produce an optimum flavor and blend. Too much heat would burn the contents. Her stew was presumably so appetizing when it was done well that you probably remember her best one even to this day. It makes this author’s mouth water.

And so it is with organizational cultures, it takes the right ingredients, right stewing approach and gestation time before you can arrive at the desired brew. So let’s take a look at some potential additional ingredients that you may well load into your organizational blending. These can include:

Conventional Management            Enlightened Leadership

» Managers project                                      » Leaders envision

» Managers plan                                          » Leaders position

» Managers organize                                   » Leaders engage

» Managers direct                                        » Leaders collaborate

» Managers control                                      » Leaders orchestrate

Let’s now take a further view as to what these definition differences mean and their likely impact on your organization or team’s culture:

» Managers Project –Leaders Envision – CMs usually turn to numbers to support their future organization projections. These are primarily created for the benefit of owners and shareholders, even though they are used as progress markers for employees, too. They focus on financial goals, desired profit margins and budgets that will produce those margins. The utilized employees are often referred to as bodies or headcount. Systems, policies and procedures are also installed to ensure delivery of the desired profit margins.

ELs, on the other hand, do their best to align desired organizational objectives or milestones with the reasonable personal desires of their people as much as possible: such as, building a steady and successful organization; providing products or services that people really want; a feeling of respect and workplace camaraderie; a reliable and workable income, and so forth. Also, they will be given a compelling purpose, along with an attractive vision and journey that everyone buys-into to spur their organization forward.

   » Managers Plan – Leaders Position – CMs will put together a variety of different plans and statistics that align with the numerical objectives they wish to achieve. Systems and structure are installed that will compel employees to accomplish these desired numbers, through the use of competition, incentives, goals, fear, accountability and measurement. The numbers may be broken down into daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly schedules.

ELs, on the other hand, consider all the variables that are vital for making it possible for their people to succeed and surpass desired milestones: that is – the right purpose, effective strategy, decent resources, good facilities, up-to-date equipment, valuable know-how, worthy support, appropriate materials, empowering leadership, and so on. All of these ingredients are essential for allowing team members to feel their enterprise is properly positioned to flourish.

 » Managers Organize – Leaders Engage – CMs will put together hierarchical systems, to let their people know who’s in charge, along with a system of reporting lines and operating procedures to keep their employees in line. Properly structuring, systematizing and monitoring work environments are all extremely important in the CM’s world.

           ELs, on the other hand, are preoccupied with how they can fully engage and keep their people fired-up to give of their best. Not only does this include a compelling purpose, it also involves treating them with respect, exposing them to regular sense of accomplishment, encouraging workplace camaraderie, offering trust and empowerment, as well as ensuring they possess the role mastery to operate somewhat autonomously.

    » Managers Direct – Leaders Collaborate – CMs send out regular directives regarding what their employees should or should not be devoting their time to. They provide competitive goals, incentives, consequences, accountability norms and regular measurements – in a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly format – to keep their employees on track.

            ELs, on the other hand, will reach out to other internal teams, or external expertise and wise-owls, to enlist support, cooperation, or advice to make their people’s journey as doable as possible.

    » Managers Control – Leaders Orchestrate – CMs are taught to keep their employees on a tight leash. They monitor things rather closely, almost to the point where some employees feel like teens. Those same people will constantly be reminded of their organization’s policies and procedures so that they remain on a narrow, designated track.

           ELs, on the other hand, ensure their people feel empowered through being competent, they know the music sheet they’re playing to, and have what they need to get the job done. They will also be well acquainted with their organization’s working principles and practices as guiderails. All of these factors are used by successful orchestra leaders, who know they can rely upon competent musicians to play of their best. The result: a pleasing musical or work outcome when those musicians or workplace contributors are well led.

From these six factors alone, it doesn’t take much to figure out the likely cultures that will emanate from these two totally different ways of producing results or outcomes. Such performance outcomes will be a manifestation of the culture you choose. You put certain ingredients in, you provide heat in the form of management or leadership, and then you realize the forthcoming stew. It’s a result of either workplace people feeling they are closely controlled and looked upon as just a pair of hands, or that they have the framework, resources and know-how to deliver what’s expected in an empowered way. It’s your choice.

Of course, the third rail is a combination of the two, which would need to be carefully balanced so that one is not counter-productive to the other. Simply put: a management culture is like applying a brake, whereas a leadership one is like pressing the accelerator. That will require as much skill as you bring to working both pedals when you drive your car.

 NOTE: There are many more dimensions or ingredients that go into building the right desired organizational culture; size has a lot to do with what culture you should foster and when.

To learn more about envisioning and decision-clarity, talk with: