Are you a leader or a manager? | Issue #263
The Difference Between Leadership and Management (and Why It Matters)
The words ‘management’ and ‘leadership’ are often seen as synonyms. People think of senior executives as leaders by default and those in the middle of the org chart as managers. But this doesn’t necessarily follow.
Sometimes, this confusion spills over into recruitment. I vividly remember being hired into a role billed as a leadership position. Very quickly, it was obvious what they wanted was a manager. They weren’t receptive to new ideas, and when I disagreed with their strategy, they refused to listen. It was frustrating for everyone involved, and we soon parted company.
Leadership and management are different, so it’s important to be clear. They’re so different that you’ll unlikely find someone who can do both successfully. To be an effective leader requires a different approach, skill set and aptitude to being an effective manager.
E269 | Rethinking People Ops & Transforming Employee Experience with Jessica Zwaan
Fully remote work isn’t for everyone. For instance, some people get their energy from having a community at work, whilst others get it from elsewhere. Some can deal with the ambiguity that comes with working remotely, and others struggle with it. Our guest this week believes that working remotely is not just a decision over having an office or not, but an operating system. And that means that you need to curate every aspect of your people operations.
This week on The Melting Pot, we learned from Jessica Zwaan, author of Amazon Best Selling, Built for People, and founder of Being People consultancy. She’s also the Chief Operating Officer at Whereby, a calm and user-friendly video call solution that integrates directly into your platform using our API or SDK.
In this episode, Jessica joined us to discuss the importance of cultural responsibility and effective performance evaluation within organisations. Shed delved into the different spectrums of responsibility at different levels, emphasising the crucial role of HR leaders in driving strategic success. She also explores the challenges of traditional HR practices and shares the innovative strategies they’re implemented at Whereby to encourage the team to book holidays in advance.
Download and listen to learn more.
Recommended Podcasts
Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief
On the “Second in Command” Podcast, by the COO Alliance, top-level COOs share the insights, tactics, and strategies that made them the Chief Behind the Chief with host: Cameron Herold.
Recommended Articles
Research: Flexible Work Is Having a Mixed Impact on Employee Well-Being and Productivity
According to Gallup research, workers around the world who are working in hybrid or remote roles say they experience more stress and anger than their colleagues who work onsite full-time. At the same time, these remote and hybrid employees say they’re consistently more engaged than full-time onsite workers. This presents a complicated challenge for company leaders. So what can organizations do to promote both well-being and productivity wherever employees are working?
Middle managers serve the most important role — but companies waste their talent
Middle managers bring out the best in their team and organisation from a pivotal position. They do this best by serving as navigators, connectors, and coaches. But in most cases, senior leaders are failing to realise this.
7 Strategies for leading a crisis-driven reorg.
Culture is often described as “how we do things around here” — a passive reflection of legacy norms and behaviors. It’s more helpful to think of culture as the nervous system of an organization.
Taking the best elements of a product-management approach and applying them to HR activity can transform the people function. This book shows you how. Written for all HR professionals and business leaders, Built for People explains how to improve workforce and business performance by developing people-centred ways of working, evidence-based decision making and a culture of continuous feedback and iteration. It explains everything from what this approach means for business professionals, what the benefits of it are and how to do it effectively. It covers how to proactively develop an employee experience which attracts, engages and retains the talent the business needs and supports them to operate at their full potential. There is also practical guidance on the importance of user research, sprint planning, vision development and how to encourage a continuous feedback loop in your team.
Quote of the week
“What you get by reaching your destination is not nearly as important as what you will become by reaching your destination.”
Zig Ziglar
Dominic Monkhouse
Dominic offers business coaching and management development, strategy planning and organisational change, using tried and tested methods to launch your organisation onto an unparalleled growth trajectory. His programme is a function of his broad experience, his deep expertise and a proven process used by over 2,700 firms worldwide.