By Dick Mooney

As I wrote this, I found it difficult to keep terms straight. On the one hand I wanted to discuss the practice of "leadership," referring, in an academic sense, to those who practice leadership as "leaders." Similarly, I wanted to discuss the practice of "management," referring, in an academic sense, to those who practice management as "managers." But on the other hand, I also needed to refer to us as support group "leaders," which is, after all, what we call ourselves. So you see the problem; I had to find a way to keep "leader" separate from "leader!" The method I decided on is the following: Whenever I refer to "leader," "leadership," "manager," or "management," I will be referring to the academic meaning of those terms. When I refer to us and what we call ourselves, I will generally use the term "SGL."

"What's in a name?" We are typically referred to, and refer to ourselves, as SGLs, but as anyone who regularly reads this newsletter knows, I am always urging SGLs to be better managers. This suggests that leaders and managers are different animals. Which should we be, or should we be a combination? What are the differences between leaders and managers and what proportion of each role should we adopt as our personal style? I may have unwittingly confused this issue by continually writing about "leadership skills" in this publication, even when many of the things I have written about are actually management skills.

Maybe an even more basic question is, why is this even necessary to discuss? I believe it's necessary and this is my reasoning: As SGLs, we are responsible for putting to best use the human and material resources at our disposal. The ways in which we do that determine whether or not the missions and goals that have been set for our groups will be successfully achieved. The ways in which we put to use those human and material resources are determined by the mental image we have of our leadership role.

When we say to ourselves and others, "I am an SGL," we must have some mental image in our minds of what that means--what we do that defines our SGL role. Whatever is our mental image of "leader" in the title we use tends to make us act in ways that are consistent with that mental image. If our mental image is appropriate, we will tend to act in ways that are good for our groups, and vice versa. 

The purpose of this article is to motivate us to think deeply about the mental image we have of our role as SGLs, to question the appropriateness of that role, and to change it if, and as, necessary to a role that may be more appropriate. The better we understand our management and leadership roles, the better we will perform and the better we will "lead" our groups to provide the services our constituents need and expect.

If one were systematically to read what many "authorities" have written about leadership and management, the first thing one would notice is that writers often have widely different, and sometimes conflicting, views about the two. In general, people who favor and write about leadership tend to disparage management traits as cold, unfeeling, and excessively logical. They say such things as, "managers see work as something that must be done or tolerated," "management focuses attention on procedure," and "management sees the world as relatively black and white."

On the flip side, people who favor and write about management tend to describe leadership traits as wishy washy and touchy feely. They say such things as, "leadership involves an intuitive, mystical understanding of what needs to be done," "leaders innovate through flashes of insight or intuition," and "leaders influence people through altering moods, evoking images and expectations." In my judgment, both of these polar views are equally extreme and equally wrong.

I must add that nowhere can one find an informed opinion that management and leadership are the same. So if the polar views are extreme and wrong, and if there aren't any views that the two are the same, then the "truth" must lie somewhere in between. So let's pay special attention to the "middle of the road" viewpoints. 

The Relationship of Leadership and Management

In general, the middle of the road viewpoints hold that:

1.  although there are many overlaps, leadership and management are different things, involving differing skills, behaviors, and viewpoints;
2.  those who use only leadership skills, behaviors, and viewpoints are ineffective in organizations that have significant administrative components;
3.  those who use only management skills, behaviors, and viewpoints are ineffective in organizations that have significant human components; and
4.  in organizations having both administrative and human components, only those who use an appropriate balance of management and leadership skills, behaviors, and viewpoints can be effective.

As an example, William Wallace (who most of us Anglos know as "Braveheart") would have been completely ineffective leading the Scots to victory over the English if he were to have used only management skills. Conversely, the proprietor of a financial management business would probably relate to her clients well but wouldn't make much money for them if she were to use only leadership skills.

Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, wrote that leadership is a facet of management. He wrote, "Leadership is just one of the many assets a successful manager must possess. Care must be taken in distinguishing between the two concepts. The main aim of a manager is to maximize the output of the organization through administrative implementation. To achieve this, managers must undertake the following functions:

•  organization
•  planning
•  staffing
•  directing
•  controlling

Leadership is just one important component of the directing function."

If effective management requires us to practice good management skills and effective leadership requires us to practice good leadership skills, and both are needed to do our jobs as SGLs well; then first we need an understanding of what effective management and leadership skills are, and then we must understand how we can combine them to make us successful as SGLs.

Leadership and Management Defined

Rather than extend this unnecessarily, I will provide only the most common and universally accepted definitions.

Management is the process of attaining organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, controlling, and directing organizational resources.

Leadership is the process of exercizing the influence between a leader and his/her followers that is necessary to attain group, organizational, and social goals.

Note that both processes involve the attainment of organizational goals, but each involves different kinds of functions.

The Functions of Management

As mentioned earlier in several places, the commonly listed functions of management are planning, organizing, controlling, and directing human efforts.

Planning - On a strategic level, the planning function includes the development of organizational mission statements, goals, and objectives. In other words, on a strategic level, planning defines where the organization should be going. On a tactical level, the planning function involves the development of such tools as action plans and budgets. In other words, on a tactical level, planning defines how the organization will get to it's desired destination. Indeed, any forward thinking with the goal of preventing problems, surprises, and obstacles is planning. Crisis management is fire fighting. Planning is fire prevention.

In the support group arena, for example, defining the "correct" mission for the group, identifying the services the group will provide to its members, and deciding how needed resources--both financial and human--will be acquired and allocated are parts of the planning function. Also, all the subsidiary decisions that are required to support these kinds of plans are part of the planning function. For example, if it's decided that one of the services that should be provided is a newsletter, one must also define what the newsletter's objectives will be, who will be on the mailing list, how much will the newsletter cost and what can we afford to spend, how can the newsletter be funded, how should space in the newsletter be budgeted, who should be responsible for the newsletter's production, and on, and on, and on.

Organizing - After defining the operational needs of the organization (which is planning) the organizing function involves grouping operating positions in an optimum way. After defining the needs of each job (which is also planning) the organizing function involves placing people in the jobs for which their skills, knowledge, and abilities are the best match. This is sometimes called "staffing," which many consider to be part of the organizing function. The organizing function includes defining superior/subordinate relationships, chains of command, relationships between people and functions, and how the staff will work in groups or teams to assure goals are met.

In the support group context, for example, the organizing function would include defining volunteer needs and recruiting them, and staffing a board of directors. Again, there are many subsidiary steps to be taken, such as determining how many board members there should be, should non-amputees be allowed on the board, how will the board perpetuate itself, how frequently should the board meet, and so on.

Controlling - The control function means constantly checking to assure that the way things are within the organization is how they should be--that is, under control. Budgeting is a planning function but checking to see that funds are being spent as the budget indicates they should be is a control function. Developing procedures for the annual dues solicitation is planning, but checking to make sure that those procedures are being followed is a control function. Getting periodic reports from the peer visitation coordinator, sample audits of visits, and feedback from visitees are all parts of the control function.

Directing - All activities involving human effort within the organization fall within the directing function. Training, supervising, delegating, team building, rewarding are all directing functions. Because no products are produced by support groups and there are few material resources to manage, a lot of the SGL's activity will be in the directing area. 

The Functions of Leadership

Broadly put, the function of leader is to persuade others to follow. In the organizational context, as mentioned above, training, supervising, delegating, team building, rewarding are all leadership functions. So are active and empathetic listening, evaluating performance, maintaining effective interpersonal relations, and counseling when mistakes are made.

An important leadership function is exercising power and influence to motivate staff members to do what they are supposed to. As pointed out in my other article in this issue that covers power and influence, SGLs, as a practical matter, have very little power to make staff members perform as they should. Therefore, as one writer describes it, leadership is utilizing "the incremental influence that a person has beyond his or her formal authority."

Qualities Needed by a Manager

Effective managers must be analytical, and skilled in problem-solving and decision making. They must have both vision and organizational awareness--vision to determine the correct directions for the organization and organizational awareness to constantly monitor whether or not what is conforms to what should be. And they must have the energy, determination, frustration tolerance, and tough-mindedness to bring the two into conformance, resolve problems, and mediate conflicts.

Effective managers must be skilled communicators. They must be articulate in communicating the organization's goals and objectives, they must send clear signals about what must be done, and they must listen well when others disagree or have different ideas.

Managers must know the difference between efficiency and effectiveness and must constantly strive to improve both.

Managers must be goal-focused and results-oriented.

Qualities Needed by a Leader

Sandra Larson, former executive director of "The Management Assistance Program for Nonprofits" developed the following list of qualities needed by a leader.

Passion - A leader has a passion for a cause that is larger then they are, a dream for how the world can be better and the part they can play--and rally others to join--in making their dream a reality.

Vision - Vision gives direction to, and is needed to breathe life into, a passionate dream. Vision answers the question, what is versus what can be?

Holder of Values - Leaders have values that legitimize an organization and characterize the organization's culture--values like respect for others, caring about people, and in the case of support groups, empathy for those who need support and encouragement.

Creativity - Leaders think outside the box. They are not afraid to try solutions that are new or different.

Intellectual Drive and Knowledge - Leaders are perpetual students of their craft. They read, they learn, and they get ideas from others.

Confidence and Humility - Leaders have confidence that their vision is correct, yet they are humble enough to accept better ideas from other people.

Communicator - Leaders speak and write in ways that encourage others to follow.

Interpersonal Skills - Leaders have the ability to listen well, delegate well, resolve interpersonal conflicts, and keep everyone moving along in the same direction.

Leadership and Management Juxtaposed

We can see from the foregoing that there is a great deal of overlap in roles and skills. We can see that management skills and leadership skills are something like conjoined twins; they may be separate entities but often they overlap and frequently cannot be separated one from the other.

What we have seen is that it is not enough to be only an effective manager or only an effective leader. One way to put it is that management and leadership are symbiotic. Management brings order and structure to leadership and leadership "actualizes" management by effectively rallying the entire team to put their shoulders to the wheel. Without both being present, this symbiosis cannot occur. To be an effective SGL, therefore, a person must be skilled in both areas. 

As examples:

Management skills are necessary to create a structure from within which the organization's mission can be accomplished, but leadership skills are needed to supply the passion and vision necessary to define the mission appropriately.

Management skills are necessary to develop goals and action plans but leadership skills are needed to communicate, persuade, encourage, and motivate others to follow the plans and strive to meet those goals.

Management skills are needed to design an organizational structure that is optimum for accomplishing the group's mission, but leadership skills are needed to persuade others to join the organization, to train them, to supervise them, and to reward them when they perform well.

As J. P. Kotter wrote in his 1991 "The Best of the Harvard Business Review" article, What Leaders Really Do:

"Leadership is different from management, but not for the reason most people think. Leadership isn't mystical and mysterious. It has nothing to do with having charisma or other exotic personality traits. It's not the province of a chosen few. Nor is leadership necessarily better than management or a replacement for it. Rather, leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary activities. Both are necessary for success in an increasingly complex and volatile business environment" 

. . . . And, I can add with confidence, in the support group environment, as well!