Management vs Leadership

I want to spin out a few things about management and leadership.  It would be fun to have a dialog about these principles if you are interested.

For me, management is stewardship of resources.  Making the best use of time, finances, available tools--basically what you have.  The key resource in any organization is the people.  I've seen it in churches, in business and other organizations.  There are an awful lot of managers who are not good stewards of their resources, especially people.  In too many cases managers, especially if they are doing the hiring of their personnel, don't know how to identify the gifts and talents of people in order to put them in the right place to exercise their gifts.

It takes someone who knows people to do this effectively.  How do you find out what a person's passions are?  This can be especially difficult if the person you are interviewing doesn't have a handle on who they are.  I have always found it helpful to find out what a person would do if money were no object.  What do they love to do if given the time?  What has always lit their fire and brought energy to them over the course of their life?  What motivates them to get out of bed each morning?  By the way, I learned a lot of these questions and answers for myself when reading What Color is Your Parachute? years ago when searching for a job.

For me, I love to bring order out of chaos.  Now I'll do my share of complaining when the job seems overwhelming but given time I can bring something into shape.  I want to make an organization run like a Swiss clock.  I want to see it work at effectively as a 4G network...fast, reliable and hitting the marks. 

I've had a person working with me in a sales position who really wanted to be a band director in high school.  As you can expect they really weren't that good at sales.  They were hired to sell because they could be had cheaply.  They were cheap but ineffective...and they experienced a lot of stress attempting to succeed at something they weren't gifted at.  Last I heard they were still working in a high school directing a band.  I've known persons who were very organized experiencing lots of frustration working for a boss who wasn't organized...and continually got in their way.

That's another aspect of good management...turning someone loose in their gifting.  If someone is organized, encourage them to put things in order.  Don't criticize them for freaking out in the middle of a mess.  If someone isn't as prone to being organized make sure they are in a creative position that allows them to go with the flow of their creative ideas whenever they hit them. 

I marvel at the management in many high tech firms.  They provide their programmers with bean bag chairs, balls to throw, toys to play with.  You need those after writing code for any length of time. They also encourage their employees to work when the creative juices are flowing.  24 hours straight if that works for them.  I even heard of one company who put their programmers in the basement with a refrigerator full of Mountain Dew (at the time, the most caffeine you could get) and dared any of the other "normal" employees to go down there and bother them.

How does leadership differ from management?  For me, the critical factor is vision.  A leader has vision about what is ahead and is constantly articulating that vision to spur the troops on.  What is the goal we are all working toward?  To be the best camp for kids?  To be the best ministry for emotionally broken people?  To be the best at reaching those who are unchurched?  To be the best small publisher in the region?  To be the best HVAC service department in our county? 

If someone isn't articulating the goal we are moving toward, the troops lose heart in the day to day grind.  Working 8-5 or 6-4 or whatever hours you work doesn't mean anything if all you get is a paycheck.

Part of leadership's role in sharing the vision is reporting how we are getting closer to the fulfillment of that vision.  How are team members doing their jobs and exercising their gifts in ways that are helping us get closer to our fulfillment?  How am I doing in helping the organization to achieve our goal?  I've known companies who have given small things as an incentive to their workers just to spur them on...a $5 gift certificate to McDonald's, a gas card for $20, a $2 bill for every compliment they get when a job is finished.

Vision is the sizzle of the steak.  If you've ever had a steak delivered to your table on a hot plate, still sizzling from the grill, you have a picture of what I am talking about.  Roast beef piled up on a plate just doesn't make my saliva flow like a sizzling hot steak on a plate does.

We have so many organizations in our world that are being led by managers without the ability to be good stewards of their resources.  We have so many more that are being led by people who can't articulate a vision and get the team behind it.  No wonder so many of us (I forget the per percentage) dread going to our jobs each day, some doing it for 40 years!  That would kill anyone.

Are you managing without being a good steward of your resources?  Are you being managed by someone who doesn't understand your gifting and passions?  Are you in an organization with a passion-less leader who can't articulate the vision of where you are going?  In some cases we can't change these situations quickly.  In some we don't have power to make the change in the organization.  But each of us can change our own behavior, commit to working where our hearts come alive and model for others what it is like to have passion for what we are doing.