A manager does the things right, a leader does the right things

Organizations change faster than ever, while directors, managers and coworkers seek stability. In that quest, they often conclude that they need leadership. After all, if you can not rely on the status quo (environment / organization), it’s better to rely on leadership to move everything in the right direction. But what is leadership?

In times of change you can trust on a leader. A leader that has a vision ; an ambitious but attainable perspective. A leader listens to people to get everybody on board. And a leader is himself, otherwise he would not remain upright during the journey. In other words, a leader has authenticity on the one hand and is result driven on the other.

Authenticity

People who are authentic found a good answer to the question: Who am I? What are my strengths and weaknesses? A good leader is not someone who is great in doing many different things, but someone who knows what his qualities are and for what he needs to find support. Here follows the distinction between a good manager and a good leader: a manager does the things right, a leader does the right things.

Result driven

Apart from having an appealing identity, true leaders have another attractive feature: perseverance. The difference between a leader and a directive manager is primarily, that a leader has time (months, years) to reach his goal, while a directive manager strives to obtain his goal tomorrow if not today. In addition, a leader has eye for his surroundings. Besides carrying out his vision, he listens a lot (and learns…). In fact it is not he, but his environment that obtains his goals.

Reinwout Schram (GITP) and Paul Hoogstraten (Obifive)

Reinwout is specialized in Leadership development. At GITP he is responsible for the training department on Leadership and Customer Focus. He designs and facilitates leadership programs for middle and higher management, using training and coaching techniques. Because of his extensive experience as manager in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, he has a excellent understanding of (international) management and leadership dilemma’s.