This month I wanted to take a sharp look at key distinctions between manager and leader. I developed a 20-question survey (“Are you more of a manager or leader?”) that received 126 responses … and the results are in. I invite you to read through them, reflect on them, discuss them, pass them along, comment here on the blog, and/or email me.
Given the volume of information, I’m breaking it up into four blog posts covering five questions each, over the next few weeks.
Below you’ll see the percentage of respondents for each survey question. Also, highlighted in yellow, you’ll find the most leader-like answer to each question. Finally, you’ll see my own commentary on the leadership theme(s) associated with each question, and a few suggestions for further reading on that topic.
Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome!
David Peck
Executive Coach and President
Leadership Unleashed
1. When delegating work to my folks, I prefer to tell them exactly what to do and how to do it.
Disagree: 67%
Neutral: 21%
Agree: 11%
Leadership Theme: Effective Delegation—allowing people to decide for themselves the best approach, which maximizes a leader’s time and effort by getting the most and best from their people. More reading on this:
2. My role is more to ask, listen, and learn, than to be an authority.
Neutral: 22%
Disagree: 14%
Leadership Theme: Authoritarian leaders—those who don’t ask, listen, and learn, believing they are meant to have the answers and be “in control”—tend to be blindsided by their people, clients, and outcomes, and to fail over time. More reading on this:
3. If you asked anyone who works for me, they'd know just where I hope my organization will be a year from now.
Neutral: 37%
Disagree: 14%
Leadership Theme: Developing and communicating a simple, shared vision is necessary to help people and an organization head in the right direction, to check progress along the way, and to achieve great results. More reading on this:
LeaderTip: Vision
4. If I want something done right, I do it myself.
Neutral: 21%
Agree: 18%
Leadership Theme: A leader’s high standards, if taken too far, become “perfectionism,” which makes them ineffective at getting the most from their human resources and organizational systems. More reading on this:
LeaderTip: Perfectionism
LeaderTip: Perfectionism / Procrastination
5. I've gotten credible feedback from colleagues and my team that they're quite comfortable coming to me with questions, issues, and ideas.
Agree: 79%
Neutral: 16%
Disagree: 6%
Leadership Theme: Candor, Relating Skills, Approachability. Leader’s who are able to develop open and caring relationship with their people enable them to be honest about what’s truly going on, and therefore to make better decisions. More reading on this:
Case Study: Leadership Means Letting Them Know You
Stay tuned for the next post on the survey, which will cover questions 6 through 10...
-DP
Wow, the people you surveyed must be exemplary :-) . Most so-called 'leaders' and managers I've encountered would score nowhere near as well as your respondents. Great questions! Phil Dourado, caretaker, The Leadership Hub, http://www.theleadershiphub.com
Posted by: Phil Dourado | June 30, 2009 at 01:35 AM