Leadership Vs Management: 5 Differences That Set Them Apart

Leadership vs. management isn’t a competition—they’re both important.

There’s no right way to manage or lead. I’m sure of it.

Leveraging leadership traits on your projects can motivate teams to become more efficient. With that, projects come in on time, under budget, and people genuinely enjoy their work. That means lots of great things for you as a project manager including, happy clients and line managers. So what are some key differences in management vs. leadership?

Manager Vs. Leader: 5 Differences That Set Them Apart

There are obvious differences between the two roles. However, that doesn’t make one of these roles excel over another. These roles and personality types are equally important and beneficial in their own ways. Without one, the other would fall. It truly is a unique dependency that works to keep the engine well-oiled throughout successful organizations.

So what makes a good manager? What are some key differences the managers take care of that are separate from leaders?

1. Executing vs. Improving

Managers are amazing at executing. If there’s a specific process in place, they will execute over and over again until they and their team nails it. They continue to make that process work as effectively as possible.

Leaders often focus on improvement. How can we improve the process? Even if the process works well, how can we spot issues and fix them for the future? (themselves/others)

2. Being meticulous vs. Being a mentor

Managers need to be meticulous. A manager can review a SOW you’ve written and spot things you’ve missed, errors in your scope details, payment terms, etc. They are the pros on these items as they have been groomed to spot them time and time again.

Meanwhile, mentoring is a beneficial trait of a leader. Let’s take the SOW example, a good leader will tell you the mistakes they caught, why they’re important to resolve, and how to avoid them in the future. A leader fosters growth within their team.

3. Striving for success vs. Challenging success

A manager strives for success. That could mean successful completion/acceptance of a project and is happy to pat their team on the back once complete.

A leader challenges the definition of success. Although something was delivered well, how can we sit down in a retrospective for example, and tackle potential hiccups we had along the way.

4. Task-oriented vs. Delegatory

Managers know how to make goals and make them reality. They are often task-oriented and want to ensure items are completed and crossed off the list.

Leaders excel at delegation of tasks and have trust in the people they’ve delegated to. They know when to let go of the reigns.

5. Do-ers vs. Motivators

Managers are excellent “do-ers”. They take the time to detail a plan, layout the parts, and see it followed through. They have a grasp of how long tasks take and why because they dig in and get familiar with their team’s work.

Meanwhile, leaders tend to focus more on motivating teams. Encouraging others to work efficiently and effectively is a great characteristic of a leader. They set goals and empower their teams to work towards them in their own ways.