Episode 8: Leadership versus Management: Achieving the Perfect Balance in the Workplace

I was recently asked if a role can be both manager and leader or it's only one or the other. It was an interesting question, as I too have seen these terms used interchangeably in the past, or seen someone with a leadership title and yet to me the behaviour doesn’t exemplify leadership but more management. 

In this episode, I discuss how to discern between the leadership and management parts of a role, focusing on the KPIs that align. Below are the key highlights and questions to use to assess a role. 

No matter what the title is, your role is a combination of both management and leadership responsibilities.  It’s a matter of knowing what allocation between the two functionalities that is most important for your position for the timeframe and seeing where you need to focus your time, attention, energy and growth. 

If this podcast episode spurred some questions for you,  let me know at https://donnalendzyk.com/connect.

Leadership versus Management Notes

• KPIs for management roles typically include:

• Financial Performance measures like revenue growth, profit margins, and cost reduction.

• Operational Efficiency measures like production output, quality control metrics, and process improvement rates.

• Employee Productivity measures like employee turnover rates, training completion rates, and average time to complete tasks.

• Customer Satisfaction measures including customer satisfaction scores, repeat customer rates, and customer service response times.

• Project Delivery measures including project completion rates, adherence to budgets, and meeting deadlines.
  

• KPIs for leadership roles typically include: 

• Employee Engagement, measured by employee satisfaction surveys, retention rates, and employee net promoter scores.

• Innovation and Growth, including number of new initiatives launched, percentage of revenue from new products or services, and market share growth.

• Leadership Effectiveness including feedback from 360-degree reviews, leadership training completion, and succession planning effectiveness.

• Team Performance including team achievement against goals, collaboration effectiveness, and team morale indicators.

• Organizational Culture:measures like cultural alignment metrics, internal communication effectiveness, and diversity and inclusion measures.

Reflection: Leadership versus Management

1. Which of the 10 KPI groupings are you currently accountable for? Your role may not require all in light of the organization / role you are in.  Which of these 10 do you track regularly and part of your monthly/quarterly/annual scorecard / reviews?  

2. Do you have some KPIs that don't fit into one of these 10?  Why do you think that?  Which grouping (Management or Leadership) are they most similar to? 

3. Which of these KPIs are most important for success in your role? Highlight the important ones.

4. By looking at which are most important for success in your role, what would you estimate a percentage allocation for management and leadership portions of your role to be based upon these KPIs?  Is it an 80/20 combination or more like at 30/70 balance?

5. What are some ways you could improve team performance through improved leadership-management balance? 

6. What are some hindrances you face in terms of executing at this leadership-management balance? What can you do to minimize them? 

7. What’s your next step to being the manager/leader you envision and are driven to be?

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And remember:

We are the leaders, the change agents, and the advocates for this new world to unfold. The world is truly waiting for us to step forward. It is time. Let’s go.