Leading, Not Managing

Leading a team can be hard work. My father always said that when leading a team you had to be able to do what they did, and take on the extra responsibilities that come with leading a team in 'extra time'.

As a child and then teenager, this marred with my own views of being a leader that came from watching many macho films. I had always wanted to be an officer in the British Army, and was well suited to it. Not incredibly intelligent, but active, fit, a desire for action with a smattering of backbone and dislike for the mundane and average meant I was well suited to it. The only reason I did not sign up was due to having grown a conscience - would I be happy with fighting other peoples wars?

This article is not and debate on the merits and place of an army in a democratic society. But leading at the time did seem to me like doing what others could do, but for longer, better, and harder.

As someone who wanted to be an officer I believed you had to lead from the front. That meant being able to run faster, lift more weight, work for longer and just do more work better.

That all holds true, and went some way to gaining a lot of respect from older colleagues in the cadets.

However leading is more than just doing more work. It is more than managing. It is about people. Leading and managing often get confused. In the article manager or leader the distinction is made clear.

Selection of those who work with and around you is important. Unfortunately there will always be people who are happy to live the nine to five, work to live not live to work live life style. You need to make sure you can get the best possible team around you.

However once that is done, are you doing the best you can to keep people motivated? Getting bogged down in the nitty gritty of programming, something that is enjoyable and invigorating, could be detracting from your true responsibilities.

Your job may not be about running faster, but making sure other people do.