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Team Leader vs Manager

Whats Manager
A manager occupies a position of authority over people and other resources in all sizes of
organizations. We can define management without reference to managers, however. It is the
process of getting things done in a way that makes best use of all resources.
Everyone manages in the sense of striving to get the most out of his or her time and other
resources. We manage our priorities, careers and finances, among other things. By defining
management independent of the role of manager, we can say that it does not imply any
particular style of management. Thus, managers aren't controlling or punitive by definition.

By definition managers aim to achieve certain goals in a way that adds most value and gets the
most out of all available resources. Management is like investment in its aim to get the best
return. Managers have a wider range of resources to invest, however. And they intervene to
help make their resources effective. They are not passive like financial investors.
Like good investors, managers must monitor their goals and investments regularly to make sure
that they are getting the best return. This can make them seem controlling to the people they
manage, but this is a question of personal style. Management is not controlling by definition,
not in the negative sense of stifling initiative and micro-managing people anyway.
Effective managers realize that people need to be empowered, valued and engaged in order to
be motivated and committed to doing a good job. Highly skilled managers know how to get
the balance right between measuring what people do and empowering them. As much as
possible, people need to be allowed to manage themselves, to be taught what key performance

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indicators to monitor and to be allowed to improve their own performance without being told
or watched over.

Skilled managers have a good balance of task competencies and people skills. On the task side,
it is important to be goal-oriented, to be sufficiently organized and self-directed to set realistic
targets and to organize all the necessary resources to achieve those targets. Managers need to
be sound decision makers, customer focused, able to cope with complexity resilient in the face
of setbacks and have sufficient energy to tackle a huge workload.
To manage people effectively, it is essential to be sensitive to their needs yet firm enough to
turn unacceptable performance around promptly. They need to be good at building and
motivating a team and skilled at coaching employees.
Effective managers ask employees what they think to draw solutions to problems out of them.
This is a great way to engage employees. Less effective managers do all their own thinking and
problem solving, just using employees to implement their decisions.

Whats Team Leader

A team leader is someone who provides guidance, instruction, direction and leadership to a
group of other individuals (the team) for the purpose of achieving a key result or group of
aligned results. The team lead reports to a project manager (overseeing several teams). The
team leader monitors the quantitative and qualitative result that is to be achieved. The leader
often works within the team, as a member, carrying out the same roles but with the additional
'leader' responsibilities - as opposed to higher level management who often have a separate job
role altogether. In order for a team to function successfully, the team leader must also motivate
the team to "use their knowledge and skills to achieve the shared goals." When a team leader
motivates a team, group members can function in a successful and goal oriented manner.[1]
Scouller (2011) defined the purpose of a leader (including a team leader) as follows: "The
purpose of a leader is to make sure there is leadership to ensure that all four dimensions of
leadership are [being addressed]. The four dimensions being: (1) a shared, motivating team
purpose or vision or goal (2) action, progress and results (3) collective unity or team spirit (4)
attention to individuals.

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The team membership may not directly report or answer to the team leader, (who is very often
a senior member of the organization but may or may not be a manager) but would be expected
to provide support to the team leader and other team members in achieving the team's goals.
A good team leader listens constructively to the membership and to the customer(s) of the
results that the team is charged with delivering.
Aligned with listening skills, team leaders are responsible for developing intervention
techniques to improve overall team production. Shuffler (2011) claims that specific teams have
interventions distinctly particular to their own team. Also, team building is most effective for
solving specific team breakdowns, whereas team training is most effective for providing the
knowledge and skills needed for teamwork.
The responsibilities of a team leader vary greatly between organizations, but usually includes
some responsibility for team building and ensuring teamwork. The term is used to emphasize
the cooperative nature of a team, in contrast to a typical command structure, where the head of
a team would be its "commander".
Sports leaders can be anyone from the head coach of a team to the last person off the bench.
Some common qualities of all sports leaders, however, are that they are visionaries and see
success for their team and that they are ultimate motivators who constantly promote enthusiasm
for the betterment of the team.

Goal Orientation
Managers tend to set goals that prioritize necessities and the culture of the organization over
all else. Leaders on the other hand are progressive and want to set goals based on their personal
wants and desires. One way of looking at it would be to think of a business as simply wanting
to perform and innovate only to the point that they think their customers would be interested
in buying a product or service. An innovative spirit in a leader is what propels him to create
something unique and never before seen. He will use this single minded passion to inspire and
push others around him to greater heights. Instead of being reactive to the wants of others,
leaders will be active in pursuing their goals. The resulting desires and objectives push the
organization in the direction of the leader vision.

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Managers also tend to view work as something that warrants either coercion by a reward and
punishment system. Managers lean toward limiting and narrowing the number of solutions
available to make sure there is consistency and efficiency. Leaders move in the opposite
direction and try to incorporate fresh solutions to new problems. They excite those around them
with exciting images about what could be. This comes down to a fundamental character trait
in which managers tend to be risk averse while leaders are more risk seeking. Where managers
will work methodically to make sure everyday tasks go smoothly, leaders will have a difficult
staying focused when given the same tasks.
Relationships
Leaders and managers tend to both build relationships with those that are working under them.
With that being said it is important to note the type of relationship that is being built. Managers
tend maintain a distance from those that work under them by showing little or no empathy for
them. Leaders on the other hand are very empathetic to their employees and those that they
lead. The result is that followers, or employees, are motivated to work and pursue a common
goal held by the leader and the rest of the group. In inter group conflicts and relationships, the
managers focus sole focus is usually turning a win-lose situation into a win-win situation or
maintaining the win-win situation. This leads to a desensitization of the managers views
towards his employee feelings. For managers relationships aren't about creating a great work
environment as it is about maintaining a balance of power.

Personality Differences
Managers, especially those in the business field, tend to be more stable and focused on solving
problems as they come. Under a manager's watch, a team should function as smoothly and
efficiently as possible. This form of leadership stresses a mundane and practical approach to
the work environment that instills discipline throughout the team or organization. In this way
managers can be trained to lead a team to great heights within a certain set of limits. The
creativity and critical thinking required are not as strenuous as required by a true leader or
entrepreneur. While managers need to be tolerant and able to create goodwill with the team
and perhaps clients, they do not need to be necessarily hard working, intelligent, or analytical.
Instead managers are trained for a specific purpose. True entrepreneurs do not have any
boundaries and use a vision for what they see as being a huge success to guide their actions.

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Self-Perceptions
There are two basic personality types: once-borns and twice-borns. Once borns generally have
stable childhoods and upbringings that lead them to be more conservative in their views. They
strive for harmony in their environment and use their own sense of self as their guide. Twiceborns are the exact opposite. People who are twice-borns generally have an upbringing that is
defined by a struggle to create some sort of order in their lives. As a result, these individuals
tend to strive for separating themselves from their peers and society. Their self-perception is
not based on where they work, what organizations they are a part of, or even what they have
already done in the past. Instead they are driven by the desire to create change.
Managers show the traits of once-borns while leaders clearly exhibit the traits of twice-borns.
Leaders see themselves as separate from the rest and try to play this sense of self by becoming
entrepreneurs or great political leaders or even by chasing any endeavor that they feel will
differentiate them. Managers want to maintain their harmonic environment and commit their
lives to making sure nothing causes disturbances.

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Differences between Leader and Manager

Is there a difference between a project leader and a project manager? A project manager can
be described as the person responsible for directing and coordinating human and material
resources, but this definition tends to focus on the administrative aspects of project work.
However, the authors see a distinction between the style of leaders and managers according
to their primary focus. The respective positions of leaders and managers on a number of
issues are shown listed in Table. It is a truism that leadership focuses on doing "the right
things" while managers focus on doing "the things right".
Managers focus on

Leadership focuses on

Goals & objectives

Vision

Telling how and when

Selling what and why

Shorter range

Longer range

Organization & structure

People

Autocracy

Democracy

Restraining

Enabling

Maintaining

Developing

Conforming

Challenging

Imitating

Originating

Administrating

Innovating

Directing & Controlling

Inspiring trust

Procedures

Policy

Consistency

Flexibility

Risk-avoidance

Risk-opportunity

Bottom line

Top line

Good managers do the

Good leadership does the

things right

right thing

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What Makes a Good Project Manager?

What qualities are most important for a project leader to be effective? Over the past few years,
the people at ESI International, world leaders in project management training, have looked in
to what makes an effective project leader. With the unique opportunity to ask some of the most
talented project leaders in the world on their Project Leadership courses ESI have managed to
collect a running tally on their responses. Below are the top 10 in rank order according to
frequency listed.
Inspires a Shared Vision
An effective project leader is often described as having a vision of where to go and the ability
to articulate it. Visionaries thrive on change and being able to draw new boundaries. It was
once said that a leader is someone who lifts us up, gives us a reason for being and gives the
vision and spirit to change. Visionary leaders enable people to feel they have a real stake in the
project. They empower people to experience the vision on their own. According to Bennis They
offer people opportunities to create their own vision, to explore what the vision will mean to
their jobs and lives, and to envision their future as part of the vision for the organisation.
(Bennis, 1997)
Good Communicator
The ability to communicate with people at all levels is almost always named as the second most
important skill by project managers and team members. Project leadership calls for clear
communication about goals, responsibility, performance, expectations and feedback.
There is a great deal of value placed on openness and directness. The project leader is also the
team's link to the larger organisation. The leader must have the ability to effectively negotiate
and use persuasion when necessary to ensure the success of the team and project. Through
effective communication, project leaders support individual and team achievements by creating
explicit guidelines for accomplishing results and for the career advancement of team members.

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Integrity
One of the most important things a project leader must remember is that his or her actions, and
not words, set the modus operandi for the team. Good leadership demands commitment to, and
demonstration of, ethical practices. Creating standards for ethical behaviour for oneself and
living by these standards, as well as rewarding those who exemplify these practices, are
responsibilities of project leaders. Leadership motivated by self-interest does not serve the well
of the team. Leadership based on integrity represents nothing less than a set of values others
share, behaviour consistent with values and dedication to honesty with self and team members.
In other words the leader "walks the talk" and in the process earns trust.
Enthusiasm
Plain and simple, we don't like leaders who are negative - they bring us down. We want leaders
with enthusiasm, with a bounce in their step, with a can-do attitude. We want to believe that
we are part of an invigorating journey - we want to feel alive. We tend to follow people with a
can-do attitude, not those who give us 200 reasons why something can't be done. Enthusiastic
leaders are committed to their goals and express this commitment through optimism.
Leadership emerges as someone expresses such confident commitment to a project that others
want to share his or her optimistic expectations. Enthusiasm is contagious and effective leaders
know it.
Empathy
What is the difference between empathy and sympathy? Although the words are similar, they
are, in fact, mutually exclusive. According to Norman Paul, in sympathy the subject is
principally absorbed in his or her own feelings as they are projected into the object and has
little concern for the reality and validity of the object's special experience. Empathy, on the
other hand, presupposes the existence of the object as a separate individual, entitled to his or
her own feelings, ideas and emotional history (Paul, 1970). As one student so eloquently put
it, It's nice when a project leader acknowledges that we all have a life outside of work.

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Competence
Simply put, to enlist in another's cause, we must believe that that person knows what he or she
is doing. Leadership competence does not however necessarily refer to the project leader's
technical abilities in the core technology of the business. As project management continues to
be recognised as a field in and of itself, project leaders will be chosen based on their ability to
successfully lead others rather than on technical expertise, as in the past. Having a winning
track record is the surest way to be considered competent. Expertise in leadership skills is
another dimension in competence. The ability to challenge, inspire, enable, model and
encourage must be demonstrated if leaders are to be seen as capable and competent.
Ability to Delegate Tasks
Trust is an essential element in the relationship of a project leader and his or her team. You
demonstrate your trust in others through your actions - how much you check and control their
work, how much you delegate and how much you allow people to participate. Individuals who
are unable to trust other people often fail as leaders and forever remain little more that micromanagers, or end up doing all of the work themselves. As one project management student put
it, A good leader is a little lazy. An interesting perspective!
Cool Under Pressure
In a perfect world, projects would be delivered on time, under budget and with no major
problems or obstacles to overcome. But we don't live in a perfect world - projects have
problems. A leader with a hardy attitude will take these problems in stride. When leaders
encounter a stressful event, they consider it interesting, they feel they can influence the
outcome and they see it as an opportunity. Out of the uncertainty and chaos of change, leaders
rise up and articulate a new image of the future that pulls the project together. (Bennis 1997)
And remember - never let them see you sweat.
Team-Building Skills
A team builder can best be defined as a strong person who provides the substance that holds
the team together in common purpose toward the right objective. In order for a team to progress
from a group of strangers to a single cohesive unit, the leader must understand the process and

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dynamics required for this transformation. He or she must also know the appropriate leadership
style to use during each stage of team development. The leader must also have an understanding
of the different team players styles and how to capitalise on each at the proper time, for the
problem at hand.
Problem Solving Skills
Although an effective leader is said to share problem-solving responsibilities with the team, we
expect our project leaders to have excellent problem-solving skills themselves. They have
a fresh, creative response to here-and-now opportunities, and not much concern with how
others have performed them. (Kouzes 1987)
Summary
Managing and leading are two different ways of organizing people. Leadership is setting a
new direction or vision for a group that they follow i.e., a leader is the spearhead for that
new direction. On the other hand, management controls or directs people/resources in a
group according to principles or values that have already been established. The manager uses
a formal, rational method whilst the leader uses passion and stirs emotions.

References

Bennis, W., 1997. "Learning to Lead," Addison-Wesley, MA.

Kouzes, J. M: "The Leadership Challenge," Jossey-Bass Publishers, CA.

Norman: Parental Empathy. Parenthood, Little, Brown, NY.