Warren Bennis came out strongly on the lack of
leadership in American society. In his book “Why leaders can’t lead” published
in 1976 he questioned the ability of leaders as to why they cannot deliver. He
found that the crucial cause is the lack of connection between leading &
managing
He went on to define leaders as people who do the
right thing but managers as doing the things right. The pithy statement can be
elaborated in the following manner: Leaders make the right decision but in
order to implement such decision there is a need for managing it to its
completion.
If you allow managers to make a strategic decision
they cannot proceed much longer because managers are trained to accept the
status quo as they are in the operational floor that mandates them to strictly
adhere to a set procedure. Managers tend to ask questions from their subordinates
in the line of “how & when”. Whereas leaders, challenge the status-quo by
asking questions “what & why”.
But every effective leader needs to be an efficient
manager too. It does not mean that he gets into nitty-gritty of everything under
his watch. What he needs is asking the right questions and getting the right
answers so that system can take care of how to proceed with.
In business strategy it is indeed necessary that
firms have a proper mix of leading and managing abilities in their cadre. In sum,
it means there is a balance between both leading & managing. When this balance
goes haywire we have two situations:
1. Over-led
& under-managed: This scenario
happens in military campaigns, corporates and also in countries that are of totalitarian
in structure
2. Over-managed
& under-led: This situation
is often seen in large corporates with huge bureaucracy, developing countries
and in US Administration.
Cheers!
Muthu
Ashraff
Business Strategist
Mobile: + 94 777 265677
E-mail: cosmicgems@gmail.com
Blog: Business
Strategist
