1: The Premise

Leading isn’t easy sometimes. Actually, that’s an understatement. Leading isn’t easy all the time. Especially when you lead people. There is a difference between managing and leading. I’m sure we have all seen the graphics, memes, and pictures of the difference between a boss and a leader. Take a look at this picture. What’s the difference?

The top is a picture of a boss. The person in the leadership position is sitting on a block while their team pulls the weight. The bottom is a picture of a leader. The person in the leadership position is in front, pulling the weight with the team.      

Simply put, managing a team, being able to cast vision, coming up with a mission statement, and being able to turn profits does not make you a leader. You can be in a position of authority and actually do 0% leading and 100% managing or maintaining. Ineffective leading results in poor team performance and/or high turnover. I’ve heard it said by Patrick Lencioni, and I’m paraphrasing, “People don’t leave organizations, people leave people. People leave bosses.”

Understanding how to lead your team will be rewarding to not only you as the leader, but also your team. This can be challenging, especially if you have already developed a leadership style different than what you’re about to read. Moving and progressing your organization forward will take teamwork, and teams are inherently made up of different personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. Being a leader that can recognize all of these qualities and adapt will not only make progress organizationally, but he or she will also cultivate a team and culture that is all-in with the organizational goals. It is not a bad thing to maintain if that is what your goal is. It is not a bad thing to manage, as long as you understand that you are managing assets. But if you are charged with forging ahead, taking ground, and inspiring people, maintaining and managing won’t accomplish that. It simply won’t. I have been managed, and I have been told to maintain, and in both of those scenarios, the organization did nothing but stagnate. When we maintained, we kept a great steady flow of income financially, because we got really good at what we were doing, but that only lasted until our competitors got really good at doing something new. We watched other organizations surpass us and saw our clients do business with them, because they were innovating in the industry we were in.

Our leadership team had their eyes set firmly on maintaining the traction that we had gained, all the while shying away from leading our team members to be creative and to think outside the box. We maintained and did what we knew to do, and our leaders managed the teams at work. They refused to see the teams as innovators to b