Leadership and management abilities are important in
developing strong organizations that can create more synergy and financial
benefits for the organization and its members. The skills and abilities appear
to be similar for both leaders and managers but are separated by the ability to
influence large groups of people. Leaders use their vision to create dynamic
organizations that can overcome market challenges while managers focus more on
skill based abilities.
Effective management has a number of components that
lead to successful completion of duties.
Through proper skill development and appropriate perspectives management
can create higher levels of organizational activity that improves upon the
financial health of the. Two lists of
strong manager qualities encourage this greater understanding.
List 1) Quality managers have abilities that
encourage their successful management of people (Barry, 2000):
a. Inspiring
shared vision,
b. Strong
communication Skills,
c. Enthusiasm,
d. Team
Building Skills,
e. Problem
Solving Skills,
f. Empathy
of others,
g. Competence
under Pressure.
List 2) Gates further describes a list of qualities
that strong managers should consider (2004):
a. Thoughtful
Choice of Occupation,
b. Hiring
Carefully and Firing Lazy Workers,
c. Creating
Productive Work Environments,
d. The
Ability to Define Success,
e. Building
Employee Moral,
f. Willingness
to Personally Handle Projects,
g. Ability
to Cater Decisions to Problems,
h. Ability
to Create Strong Reporting Structure.
Management abilities and leadership abilities are
often seen as interchangeable. However, the skills that make a person a strong
manager would not necessarily make this same person a strong leader. Strong
leaders have the capacity to be effective managers but also bring with them a
better sense of vision and purpose. They have the ability to draw together all
of the organizational elements to solve specific business problems while not
ignoring the human factors that allow this to happen.
Leaders have slightly different skills when compared
to managers that should be considered. These skills typically focus more on
motivating and encouraging larger populations to accomplish worthwhile goals.
Leaders must be able to sell their vision to the organizational members as well
as operationally manifest this vision through focused policies & procedures
that steer an organization in the right direction. Leadership abilities are
often see as personality traits (Melmuka, 2000):
a. Ability
in Persuasion,
b. A
Desire to be Generous,
c. The
Ability to Formulate a Vision,
d. Flexibility
in One’s Thinking,
e. The
Understanding of Humor in Life.
Organizations that seek to develop the next
generation of leaders should encourage positive management skills from the
beginning of employment so that leadership personality traits can grow.
Management skills often lead to new methods of perception that are necessary in
developing leadership traits. It is through these constantly refining abilities
does the manager learn the wider context of decisions that encourage positive
leadership traits.
Barry, T. R. (2000). Top 10 Qualities for Project
Manager. Retrieved February 5th, 2013 from http://lahcen.afif.be/files/top-10-qualities-of-a-project-manager.pdf
Gates, B. (2004). A Good Manager Has At Least 10
Good Qualities. Retrieved February 5th, 2013 from http://www.worklifecoach.com/bill_gates.pdf
Melymuka, K. (2000). “Born To Lead Projects”, Computerworld,
43(13): 62.
