Balancing Managing and Leading

Leaders balance their day between managing tasks and leading their team or organization.  Many leaders do not balance these two areas to maximize their efficiency.
 
Managing and leading are important but typically leaders spend too much time managing and not enough time leading.  Understanding the definition of these roles provides the first step to the balance.
 
Managing consists of handling the day-to-day task of keeping the business going.  These tasks include things like making up schedules, lining out the daily work, hiring people, reading and responding to email, running meetings, managing a budget, etc.  Managing is easy to “touch” and see immediate results.
 
Leading consists of looking for ways to maximize the capacity of the organization you are leading.  This organization could be a work shift of a business, a store or restaurant, sports team, a church or community group, or entire company.  Leading involves understanding the vision of the organization and finding the best way to lead a team to execute that vision effectively.  Leading is harder to “touch,” and results are not immediately seen. It is harder for a person to spend time on activities they cannot check off and show immediate results.
 
If we are unbalanced in the time we spend on either, we will lead ineffectively.  The challenge is that the managing tasks often dominate our day and leave us will little time to think strategically.  Managers are held accountable for getting the daily work done so will often react to the immediate needs and forego the leading efforts.  

Think about your balance and pick one managing task you can delegate, make more efficient, or stop doing.  The New Reality module called Leading and Managing provides assessments, cases, and ideas to help you create an appropriate balance.  Contact us and we will send you a free copy.