Are you a leader or a manager? — we tell you about 5 differences

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Not all managers are considered leaders, and not all leaders hold the position of manager. Setting goals and monitoring the results is one thing, inspiring employees to new victories is quite another. Successful managers combine both of these qualities. In this article, we will tell you about the difference between management and leadership, so that you can choose the best combination for yourself.

Power or influence
The manager manages employees due to his position, which gives him power. He can distribute tasks, control work and check reports, but he is not able to influence the employee's motivation. This quality distinguishes a leader who can charge other colleagues with his enthusiasm, while he can be one of the ordinary specialists.

Subordinates or followers
The main part of a manager's responsibilities is to control the work of employees and track results. This role is very important, but it does not automatically give the manager leadership qualities. Leadership social media marketing service is more about trust and respect, when you want to listen to a person and his opinion is considered authoritative. One good way to check whether you are a leader or not is to observe how many people ask you for advice per day.

Failures or opportunities for growth
Often, managers get hung up on following the rules and achieving success; in such a system of views, any failure is perceived with hostility and destroys the team's morale. A leader, on the other hand, thinks ahead and sees growth areas in failures. For example, when a colleague from another department gives negative feedback on a task, this is an opportunity to review the usual processes and improve them taking into account the comment.


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System or relationship
Managers are more focused on metrics and analytics, they try to build a system that will motivate specialists to work. A leader is primarily concerned with people, he strives to build relationships with them and gain trust in order to jointly implement his ideas.

Manager or mentor
The leader focuses on the collective order: defining indicators, distributing work, and establishing the way tasks are performed. Such a system is important for achieving short-term goals. The leader does not dictate rules, he trains his colleagues, listens to them, and gives them the opportunity to make decisions independently.

Becoming a leader is more difficult, it requires not only professional skills, but also universal competencies. Our free online course " Leadership: Basics " will help you develop the necessary qualities. The course was developed by Pavel Merinov, Master of Sociology and Associate Professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.