The debate about the topic Manager v/s Leaders is never ending and there can be loads and loads of arguments in favor of each. However, it needs to be noted that Managers are not Natural Leaders, they need to be trained for Man Management skills.
In today’s competitive world where we need more able leaders, Managers would be considered from the old school of thought where they prefer to command rather than lead by example. The Business World today needs Able Leaders who can Lead by Setting Examples and who have an ear for suggestions. Gone are the days when Managers could walk over Subordinates saying “You need to move out of the way and that’s it, we are done.” Such Managers need to understand that the Market is more competitive today and the Managers if they remain managers may be managing a team of more skilled resources than themselves.
The skills today have grown multifold and specifically in the new tech businesses where knowledge is power, the business should look at reorganizing the Management v/s Leadership aspects. In the world today Management is more inclined towards – Time Management, Skills Management, Budget and Margin Management, Product Management and so on. When we look at the Old School thought of Man Management then that particular skill is now overtaken by Leadership Management. With the workforce getting more skilled, gone are the days that they would listen to the “Institutional Lectures” or “Military Like Command”. The old tricks of how to deal with Human Resources have to be changed and so would be the need for the Managers to change.
The organizations that would end the one way dialogue with Human Resource and move to adopt the Leadership Patterns would tend to be more successful than resorting to Man Management Patterns with still working on Personnel Management or Workforce Management.
The Skilled Human Resources have more choices available to them and they also can Walk the Path as Managers would. If a Manager would say “Either mould my way or Move on”, the Human Resources of today have the equal right to say “Adios” as Respect is mutual!!
