Leadership and management are often mistaken to be the same, however, there’s actually a significant difference between them, and understanding this contrast will help provide better guidance to be more effective in roles at work. Leadership is about getting people to understand and believe in your vision and to work with you to achieve a common goal, while managing is more about administering and making sure the day-to-day tasks or activities are happening as they should. According to Claire Mutesi, an entrepreneur and business personnel in Kigali, leaders are believed to lead with motivation and apprehension. They think creatively and flare up the same passion with the people they lead and mentor, and managers focus mostly on designed results that can be measured. She explains that managing duties can be delegated through others, but the leader is responsible for ensuring there is appropriate and effective management for the situation or group concerned. Mutesi adds that leaders personally invest in tasks and projects and exhibit a high level of passion for work. Leaders take interest in the success of their followers, and permit them to reach their goals. She also points out that leadership requires a good vision of thinking across boundaries and can be in terms of product, market share, brands among others, and a manager is in charge of the activities in an organisation. “Management starts with maintaining the budget, making decisions regarding investment or finance, making plans for the future, keeping check on various activities, organising the schedule, and motivating others to keep doing what benefits the company,” Mutesi states. She adds that leadership, principles and guidelines are fortified, whereas, in the case of management, policies and procedures are advanced. Leadership brings transformation, management brings reliability, she says. Author Tiffany Gaines states that leaders embrace change and lean towards the power of transformation. Even amid a storm, when everything seems to be going wrong, they see beyond the issues, and instead of staggering in pessimism, they deviate towards possible solutions. They are innovators focusing more on new methods of advancement in areas of decision-making. Managers, Gaines says, tend to rely on expertise, knowledge and skillset to fulfil their given tasks, many times, but not always, based on a leader or leader’s vision. They aim to stick with what they know and typically don’t adjust well to change. She also notes that leaders, like entrepreneurs, are constantly looking for ways to add to their world of expertise. They tend to enjoy reading, researching and connecting with like-minded individuals; they constantly aim to grow. They are usually open-minded and seek opportunities that challenge them to expand their level of thinking, which in turn leads to developing more solutions to problems that may arise. But managers, many times, rely on existing knowledge and skills by repeating proven strategies or behaviours that may have worked in the past to help maintain a steady track information within their field of success with clients. However, Mutesi notes that management and leadership have some similarities as they both create the foundation of the organisation and functional structure, they both expedite connections between people and enable decisions and maintain order in the organisation. Both leadership and management are important to have in any organisation. Without leadership, teams would be aimless and not be consolidated by a vision. Also, without management, teams wouldn’t be able to take practical steps or complete the goals they need to achieve their vision, she adds.
