Great presentation, you and I 100% agree on our definitions of manager and leader. But my question to you would be: can we simply have leaders and mentors than managers.
In the visual there, I see a lot of manager traits to be directive and it generally doesn’t work too well for a lot of individuals. Would be interested in your thoughts.
During my career I’ve worked both in bigger organizations and smaller startups and a ratio and a necessity between managers and leaders have varied depending on the size and stage of the organization.
Startups need more leaders defining vision and motivation for both employees and customers. This drive allows startups to more quickly and if necessary pivot fast. But this brings a lot of risk and unpredictability.
On the other hand, large established organizations usually prefer predictability and stability, even if it means being slower. This is where they leverage the power of management, that gives a structure and order to large organizations. And it is not wrong at all, it is needed. At the same time, having that structure, leaders and mentors should not be forgotten and should be given enough space to show their strengths and help grow both the product and people.
Interesting take. In my experience, I’m currently at bigger organizations but I don’t think we need managers, I think leaders can still bring the best out of a team.
But I’m being a little too critical of management, but I’m a big believer of the need of true leaders in big organizations as well. But I think we’re talking about the same thing with a slight different usage of these words.
I write about leadership as well and request you to check out my writing, I’ve been leading teams and my observations has been we need people that motivate not enforce.
Nice breakdown Samuel! I loved the framework, and completely agree with the common pitfalls.
As a team leader, I need to be a some combination of the three, and it was interesting to think what part of my time I spend on each.
I can delegate each of the 3, not only the manager’s part. Delegate the leader’s part to the PM, and the mentor’s part to a strong developer. 100% delegation is not advised of course :)
The partial delegation is a great point not only because of how time-demanding keeping all three hats is but also because it helps to create deeper relationships between other team members.
Great presentation, you and I 100% agree on our definitions of manager and leader. But my question to you would be: can we simply have leaders and mentors than managers.
In the visual there, I see a lot of manager traits to be directive and it generally doesn’t work too well for a lot of individuals. Would be interested in your thoughts.
Thank you for the question Akash!
During my career I’ve worked both in bigger organizations and smaller startups and a ratio and a necessity between managers and leaders have varied depending on the size and stage of the organization.
Startups need more leaders defining vision and motivation for both employees and customers. This drive allows startups to more quickly and if necessary pivot fast. But this brings a lot of risk and unpredictability.
On the other hand, large established organizations usually prefer predictability and stability, even if it means being slower. This is where they leverage the power of management, that gives a structure and order to large organizations. And it is not wrong at all, it is needed. At the same time, having that structure, leaders and mentors should not be forgotten and should be given enough space to show their strengths and help grow both the product and people.
Interesting take. In my experience, I’m currently at bigger organizations but I don’t think we need managers, I think leaders can still bring the best out of a team.
But I’m being a little too critical of management, but I’m a big believer of the need of true leaders in big organizations as well. But I think we’re talking about the same thing with a slight different usage of these words.
I write about leadership as well and request you to check out my writing, I’ve been leading teams and my observations has been we need people that motivate not enforce.
I completely agree with that sentiment. Enforcement only leads to demotivation, disconnect, and frustration.
Ideally, a team lead should be able to balance all three hats based on the team's maturity and needs.
Thank you for the mention, Samuel!
Nice breakdown Samuel! I loved the framework, and completely agree with the common pitfalls.
As a team leader, I need to be a some combination of the three, and it was interesting to think what part of my time I spend on each.
I can delegate each of the 3, not only the manager’s part. Delegate the leader’s part to the PM, and the mentor’s part to a strong developer. 100% delegation is not advised of course :)
Thank you, Anton!
The partial delegation is a great point not only because of how time-demanding keeping all three hats is but also because it helps to create deeper relationships between other team members.