5 Key Differences Between Managers & Leaders

Are you feeling stuck between managing tasks and motivating your team? Are you struggling to figure out how to be the leader instead of the boss? 

In this video, we're going to break down the five key differences between managers and leaders. And I'm going to show you how to harness both sides of the equation so that you can increase your impact on your team and throughout your organization.

But first I want to quickly introduce myself for those of you who are new to my YouTube channel. My name is Doug Howard, and I'm a leadership coach and consultant for engineering companies. Each week I post new videos on how to level up your leadership skills, no matter what industry you work in.

So if you're a manager, don't forget to hit that subscribe button. Now, let's get started.

Leader vs Manager

Now, some people look at leadership and management as two completely different things, almost as pinning them against each other, like you're either a leader or a manager.

Other people use these terms interchangeably, leader and management, they don't really see the difference between the two.

So I want to start and set the tone for the rest of this episode by just explaining this one simple concept. I look at it as like a handoff or a transition between the two. They work in unison together.

Simplest way to think about it is if you think about a ship, that's on a voyage. Leaders are the ones that set the course for where the ship is going and managers are the ones that steer the ship following the vision from the leader.

Now I'm going to expand on that throughout this episode with a bunch of different specific points and specific areas of this, but that's the simplest way to distinguish between the two. The relevance for you as a manager is, you want to be able to understand both leadership and management and how they work together, because whether you're a leader or a manager, creating a powerful synergy between leadership and management is what propels you and your team and your organization towards success.

Like I said, I want to clear a few things up before we dive in too far. The first thing I want to explain is, it's not that one of these is good or bad. You hear a lot of people posting on LinkedIn and social media channels saying, managers are the ones that crack the whip and leaders are the ones that inspire their team and things like that.

Now I'm not here to say that one is good or one is bad. Both are critical, right?

You need someone to be the visionary, but you also need someone to make sure that the vision gets delivered. You need someone to translate that vision down to the ground level and make sure that people can actually understand what their role is and people are measuring things and getting things done.

So what I want to focus on in this episode is how do both tie together.

Understanding the leader versus manager distinction allows you as the manager to adapt your approach based on the situation. Now, sometimes a more directive management style might be necessary for you to get things done, whether it's meeting deadlines or following through on things or making sure that tasks get done.

On the other hand, other situations might call for a leader's inspirational approach to spark creativity, spark new ways of thinking. Maybe you need innovation to get through something, or maybe you need different methods for problem solving.

Developing your skills in management and leadership is critical if you want to escape the middle management trap, though. A lot of people move into middle manager roles and they get stuck because they cling to the manager side of this equation and they don't realize that they're not developing their leadership skills along the way.

This is a problem because leadership skills are what get you promoted to senior manager and director and executive level roles. But when you're in middle management, you need to develop both abilities if you want to reach that next level, otherwise you're going to just keep going in circles by managing.

Like I said, I'm going to explain more about that means throughout this episode, but when I worked in middle management, I always looked at it like I was wearing two hats. There was times where I needed to be the leader where I was sparking creativity, where I was inspiring the team, where I was giving them the motivation they needed to keep going.

Then there are other times where I just needed to make sure things got done. I was just making sure that everyone was following the rules. I was making sure that people were holding themselves accountable to get things done.

Now that's just a little bit of context for where we're going with this episode. But the main point here is I want to give you five key differences between leadership and management.

Difference #1 - Vision vs. Execution

​The first key difference is vision versus execution.

Leaders, they're going to be the big picture thinkers. They're going to be the ones crafting a compelling vision for the future, and they're going to be creating that vision for other peoples to get inspired by it and for other people to follow it.

On the other hand, managers are going to be the ones that have to translate that vision into actionable steps. They're the ones that are going to make sure that the ground level understands what that vision means to them and what tasks do they need to do to contribute to this mission and what's their role in it. They're basically gonna do everything possible to ensure that there's a smooth execution of those plans as well.

So you see the key difference there, the leader is the one that's creating the idea and they're basically giving enough information for the manager to create an actionable plan around it. So there's this give and take between the leader and the manager. And there's this give and take in a kind of a smooth handoff, right? Where the manager is carrying it out and making sure that it can actually get done.

Now, it's not a one way thing. The manager and the leader would be going back and forth. Now, when I say this doesn't mean that it has to be two different people either. I'm going to expand on that a little bit here, but I'm just saying like the role of the manager and the role of the leader, that's how they're different from each other.

So you want to think of it like a handoff and an example of this would be, let's just picture a situation where a company is facing a recession, or maybe they're facing market saturation where their product is getting washed out and they're losing market share.

The leader in that situation. They're not going to just accept status quo. They're not going to just keep doing things the way they've always done it. They're going to recognize that there's a problem and they're going to recognize that if they don't make changes, this is going to bite their company. This is going to have big consequences. So instead of just doing what they've always done and, that whole, if it ain't broke, don't fix it type thing, they're going to recognize that maybe it's not broke today. But this is going to break if we don't change anything.

So instead they're going to start brainstorming and envisioning a future where their product caters to a new need or an untapped niche, or maybe they're serving a new market and they're going to start seeing how do we take what we're doing today and revise that so that we're setting ourselves up better for tomorrow.

I'm not saying that they come up with all these ideas by themselves, but they're going to be the one that ignites that spark and they're going to be the one that, that does all the research and whatnot to figure out what are those opportunities.

From there once they have that vision, they're going to rally the team behind this vision by outlining all the potential growth and all the potential possibilities and all the potential impact and implications of what this idea would mean for the company, for the team, for the customers, for the stakeholders and everything like that. Now that's how the leader plays a role in this.

The manager in this situation, they're going to take a different approach. First they're going to take the leader's vision and translate it into actionable steps. So let's say the leader has a really good idea. The leader is, living at 10, 000 feet high. The manager is closer to ground level. So they're going to be the one that works with the leader to figure out, okay, how do we make this happen? How do we translate this into actionable steps? How do we make this a reality?

They might be the ones that assign tasks like market research tasks. They might be the ones that give tasks for brainstorming new product features that it would take to accomplish this vision. They're gonna be the ones that develop a budget and a timeline for rolling out this strategy.

Now, again, like I'm saying here, it's not that the leader is the end all be all, the manager might have to push back on the leader and explain here's reality. Here's some things we need to consider and the idea might change, the vision might change, through a round trip type process. But nevertheless, what I want to point out here is that, the leader is more up here at 10, 000 feet. They're in that visionary role. The manager is at the ground level. They're in the execution.

Something I want to say here though, is that there's a time and a place for both. Again, it's not like one is good and one is bad and they don't necessarily have to be two different people either.

I worked at a company that was growing very rapidly for a long period of my career. We started as a five person team and we grew into a 40 person team. We went from being a small regional company into an international company and an industry leader throughout the world. Becoming a big global company like that made a lot of changes for us and, we were serving different markets. Basically it was a game changer for us and there was a time for the vision and then there was a time for execution.

Me as the leader, if I was just always envisioning all these possibilities and opportunities and all these new product ideas, then nothing would get done in the day to day. But on the other hand, if I was just always, focused on the day to day and focused on, carrying out tasks and meeting deadlines. Then nothing would have changed for us to be ready to capitalize on future market share or expand into new markets.

So in this example, I was doing leadership and management. I would basically switch hats during different phases. When we were extremely busy, I was more focused on management. When we were in lull points or when we had some space or if we hired some people and we had some gained capacity and some breathing room in, then that's when I would tap into the leadership side of it. That's where I would start looking at new opportunities and how do we take advantage of this spare time we have or this extra resources that we have.

So I just want to emphasize as I go through the rest of these key differences between leadership and management. They don't necessarily have to be two people and I actually think the best leaders and managers know how to tap into both sides of this equation. They know when it's time to put on their management hat to make sure stuff gets done. But then they also know how to tap into their leadership hat, where they're envisioning new possibilities. They're finding new ways to solve problems. They're innovating. They're figuring out how to get ahead of problems before they come up and end up biting your company or your team.

So again, it's all about vision versus execution.

Difference #2 - Change vs. Stability

The second key difference between leaders and managers is change versus stability.

Leaders are going to be very comfortable with change. Even in some cases, leaders are going to just initiate change just to drive progress. They don't like stagnancy, so they're going to see technology advancements and they're going to see those as opportunities to innovate and streamline processes. They're also going to probably be ones that are highly likely to champion the adoption of new software, despite initial resistance from all the stakeholders in the company. They're going to see so much potential in it and they're going to be so confident in its long term benefits that they're not going to have any fear about bringing up this change.

On the other hand, managers, they're going to be prioritizing stability and efficiency in the day to day over everything else. Their number one goal is to make sure everything stays afloat, right? They're not setting the course, they're steering the ship. They're more focused on how do we make things today in the day to day more efficient? How do we make sure we're getting things done? How do we stay stable? How do we keep everyone afloat? So they're going to do everything that they can to ensure that existing systems are functioning smoothly and efficiently. They might eventually adopt the new software or whatever the change is, but their immediate focus is on minimizing disruption during transitional stages like this.

So to give you an example of this, a leader in the tech industry, let's just say they might identify a shift in customer preferences. They might notice that their users or their target customer or their clients are changing the way they interact with their product. Or they're changing the way they interact with the user interface for their software, for argument's sake. But, they're going to recognize that the customer is changing and because of that, they would recognize these changes and they would propose a complete overhaul of the company's flagship product to get ahead of that so they don't get left behind.

They're going to be the champion of this change and they're going to do whatever they can to convince all the stakeholders, clients, customers, investors, employees, ground level staff, everyone. They're going to do whatever it takes to convince everyone who needs to be convinced that this is a necessity for the future of success, because they're thinking beyond the day to day.

Now, on the other hand, managers in different departments would then be responsible for implementing the changes outlined by the leader. So where the leader is the one that is recognizing these changes and these opportunities or these risks, but remember, it's just all about future casting, the vision aspect of it versus execute execution. The managers are going to be the one that are responsible for implementing this.

So the leader outlines it, they set the course, the managers are the ones that are going to be steering the ship to make sure they get there. For the managers, this could involve coordinating with engineers, coordinating with designers, gathering information from marketing teams, or working with all different areas of the company, production, manufacturing, you name it, but they're going to be the ones that are working with everyone to ensure that there's a smooth transition to the new product.

So the leaders come up with the idea, they see the opportunity, they get buy-in, then they hand it off to the manager to carry it out and make sure it gets done.

Now again, this doesn't mean that it has to be two different people. I'm distinguishing this clearly black and white so that you can understand this but remember, the best managers and the best leaders know how to tap into both sides of this equation for depending on what stage they are in the process. Or depending on where the company is at or where the team is at.

I was constantly living in this world, back when I was a manager. We're in this busy patch for, three to six to nine months or longer. This isn't the time to test things out. This isn't the time to break stuff. This isn't the time to fail fast, like all these big big shots like Jeff Bezos say. This is the time to make sure we're focusing on dotting our I's, crossing our T's, getting everything done right. maintaining quality and et cetera.

But then when you get caught up or when you get over that hump, that's the time to switch into that leadership mode where you're thinking about the future and you're considering how change can be a positive for you and how a change can lead to progress.

Difference #3 - People vs. Process

The third key difference between leaders and managers is the People versus process.

Leaders are going to be focused on motivating and developing their people. They're going to be focused on fostering a positive work environment. On the other hand, managers are going to be more focused on structures and processes. They're going to be more focused on keeping things organized and keeping things running efficiently.

So for an example to look at here, let's take a look at employee development and how each role would handle this differently. A leader is going to be passionate about empowering their team. So they're going to provide opportunities for professional development. They're going to be intentionally celebrating individual strengths on the team. They're going to delegate tasks that foster growth for the people on their team. So they're not delegating tasks to get them off their plate. They're delegating tasks because they see this as an opportunity to help this person grow or get better or contribute at a greater level. They're going to create a work environment where employees feel valued and motivated.

On the other hand, the manager is going to be more focused on processes and structures, and they're going to be more focused on ensuring that tasks are getting completed efficiently. You see this big difference here. The managers are focused on the day to day. They're focused on the current house and keeping the current house in order. They're not thinking about the next home they're going to live in. They're not thinking about that renovation or that expansion they're doing in the home. They're thinking about how do I keep everything in this current house operating smoothly? How do I make sure everyone's getting fed, right?

They're going to be more focused when it comes to performance management for their team. They're going to be more focused on establishing clear performance metrics, and they're going to delegate tasks based on people's existing skill sets. Again, it's going to be based on efficiency. Can this person do this? It's not going to be about stretching this person's limits as a growth opportunity. It's going to be more about how does this benefit the team? How does this benefit our operations? How does this benefit our efficiency or our bottom line? Managers are always going to keep a laser focus on tracking progress towards established goals.

To expand on this a little bit further when it comes to performance management, because I think this is a key point here that's different between leaders and managers.

A team leader, someone who's a leader, they're going to recognize an employee's potential for leadership. Leaders are always looking for other leaders. When they recognize someone has the potential for leadership, they're going to nominate that person for a mentorship program, or they're going to find other ways to invest time in that person through coaching and development. Or they're going to do whatever it takes to help that person hone their leadership skills.

The manager, on the other hand, isn't going to be that focused on that. It doesn't mean they don't care, but again, they're focused on the day to day operations. That's their job. That's what they're getting paid to do. So the manager is more likely going to focus on performance management by setting clear goals and expectations for the employee.

They're going to provide regular feedback on their work performance, but it's going to be based on how they're adhering to establish procedures and how they're adhering to the goals that they've been assigned and the deadlines that they've been assigned. So it's not going to be about, it's not going to be about a career growth for that person. It's going to be about how they're supporting the team and how they're getting their tasks done and how they're getting their work done.

I want you to see that key difference. Now, again, it's not that one is good or one is bad, right? You as the manager or you as the leader, you need to know how to switch gears into both of these. There's a time for making sure people get work done and measuring them against the goals you've set forth them and deadlines and projects and tasks. But there's also a time for recognizing when, okay, I need to push this person a bit further, or I see this as an opportunity for this person to go further. I see a potential in this person that they don't maybe see in themselves, but it's about recognizing that balance. It's going to be different for all people too.

This one isn't really a product of the team's workload or the business cycle. It's more a product of each person that you're working with. This person might be ready for more growth and this other person might not be ready for growth. You're switching gears more based on the person versus what's going on in your job

Difference #4 - Feedback vs. Control

The fourth key difference between a manager and a leader is feedback versus control.

So a leader is going to actively seek out feedback from their team and they're going to do everything they can to create a culture of open communication where employees feel comfortable with sharing ideas, sharing concerns, speaking freely, of course, professionally, we don't want people being unprofessional and rude to each other, but at the same time, they want people to be honest.

Honesty is key. Transparency is key. That goes both ways from leadership to the team and the team back to the leader. The leader doesn't want to have any blind spots. So they're going to view constructive criticism as an opportunity to learn and improve.

Now, that could be constructive criticism towards the leader about their leadership style, or it could be constructive criticism about the team, the department, the product, the operations, the systems, their strategies, anything. But the leader is going to do everything they can to foster an open dialogue on these things so they can constantly be recognizing blind spots, getting ahead of problems, and figuring out solutions. Because if you're not clear on the problem, you can't fix it. You can't identify it, and if it's in your blind spot, it can only grow worse. This is a primary objective for leaders.

On the other hand, the manager is going to be more focused on control. So the leader is more focused on open feedback and transparency and truth and honesty and things like that. The managers will be more focused on control. They want to make sure everyone is adhering to established procedures. So they're going to be more focused on identifying and correcting mistakes to maintain efficiency. It's not that a manager doesn't care about feedback, it's not that they don't value it, but their primary concern each day is going to be that making sure tasks get done and that they get completed as instructed.

An example of the difference in how a manager versus a leader would handle a situation. Let's say the company failed a product launch. They had a goal to get a product launch done on time and it failed, maybe it missed a deadline, or maybe it had features on it that didn't work or the bugs were too strong.

A leader in that situation, they're going to immediately hold open discussions to gather feedback from all the team members, and they're going to encourage constructive criticism. They're going to use the insights that come from these open discussions to improve the future product development processes so that they don't make these mistakes again in the future.

A manager is going to be more focused on identifying who made the mistakes during the launch, and they're going to be more focused on taking corrective actions. This could involve disciplinary measures or assigning additional trainings to the other person to help them figure out what their shortcomings were. Maybe they're undertrained in a certain area, or maybe they shouldn't have been in that position to do that job or that role in the project.

But as you can see, the manager is more focused on the immediate result. The leader is more focused on how do we improve this as a collective? How do we improve this as a whole?

So again, the manager is more about maintaining and the leader is more about progress, future. It all stems to that vision and it ties back to that first thing I said, the leader is casting the direction, the mission, the path, the course on a ship, and the manager is the one that's steering the ship and making sure that the boat is still going straight. They don't necessarily have the whole end vision in mind. They're just making sure that the boat is going to the next location that day.

Difference #5 - Leading People vs. Managing Work

The fifth and final key difference between leaders and managers is leading people versus managing work. I'll say that again, leading people versus managing work.

So a leader, their primary focus is going to be figuring out how to inspire and motivate their team. They're going to do this by painting a clear picture of the bigger goal at hand. They're going to help each individual on the team understand how they contribute to achieving that bigger picture goal. They're also going to be focused on empowering each person on the team to take ownership of their role and they're going to empower them to make decisions. They're going to be focused on building up that person's confidence. They basically really want to evolve around fostering a sense of purpose and responsibility for each person on the team. So they're not really managing work, they're lifting up people and they're getting people to work independently and have the confidence and the trust to do things on their own so that they're not really micromanaging anybody.

The manager, on the other hand, they're more focused on overseeing projects and tasks. They're more focused on ensuring that deliverables are met on time and within budget. So they're going to assign tasks. They're going to track progress and they're going to provide guidance to individual team members But it's all about the day to day and keeping the day to day tasks done. So you're hearing like a reoccurring theme here. Their focus is on the efficient completion of specific tasks. It's not really about empowering their team. It's just about getting these things done, getting this project or this task done.

So let's use mechanical engineering as an example. A leader in a mechanical engineering company, let's just say they're working on a new engine design project or something like that. Their approach to this would be to create a collaborative environment where team members from various areas, let's say design, manufacturing, testing, marketing. They're going to create an environment where representatives from each of those environments or those teams can share ideas and their expertise. They're going to encourage brainstorming sessions, and they're going to encourage open discussions about potential challenges. They're going to empower team members to take an initiative in these areas for themselves, but they're going to encourage them to collaborate ongoing with each other too. The leader's focus is going to be on fostering a culture of innovation and problem solving within the team.

On the other hand, a manager in this situation, they're going to be more focused on ensuring that there's a smooth execution of the engine design project. So they're not thinking about how do I integrate all these things together like this to get the best idea in the world. They're more focused on, all right, how do we get a smooth execution of accomplishing this engine design project. So they're going to break down the project into smaller, more well defined tasks. They're going to delegate those tasks to specific team members based on their strengths, and they're going to establish clear timelines and clear deliverables. The manager is also going to track progress regularly because they want to address any roadblocks that hinder individual tasks that, they want to keep everyone moving efficiently. They're also going to do what they can to ensure that the overall project stays on schedule and within budget.

Bonus: Influence vs Authority

Now, just to point this out here again, like it's not that one approach is bad or good. It's more about finding that balance. For you as a leader or manager, it's about knowing what is the project that I need to make sure this thing just goes smoothly and it gets done, like a critical project or maybe there's a big safety risk involved you can't afford to take risks. But another project where maybe there's a little bit more wiggle room, you can use this as an opportunity to gain more buy in from people or gain more collaboration, or you can use this as an opportunity to challenge someone on the team or have them test out a new idea or theory. But it's not about doing one all the time. It's about knowing when to use each approach.

Like I said, it's not that leader or manager is better or worse than the other, but I want you to remember leader and manager are not exclusive roles. Effective leaders often possess strong managerial skills. On the flip side, great managers know how to inspire and motivate their teams.

The key is understanding the emphasis each role places on these different aspects, as well as the role it plays in achieving your organization's goals.

One important difference that I didn't really cover yet in this episode is in relation to the impact that managers and leaders have on the organization. Managers are going to be more likely to stay in their lane and keep things moving while leaders are going to be the ones that use influence to increase their impact on their team and throughout their organization.

It's why leaders advance out of middle management and into higher level roles. But it's also why managers tend to stay put because they're really good at their job and they keep things moving.

When it comes to leadership, the most important skill there is that you need to know how to do is influence people, all types of people. If this is a weakness for you, you should check out my episode called How to Influence Upward, Downward, and Cross Functionally at Work.

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