During leadership workshops I often asked the question, “How many of you manage other people?” Most of the hands go in the air. Then I show the definition of the word manage on a slide. It includes words like “control, handle and manipulate.” I re-ask the question, and thank goodness most of the hands go down. Next I show a slide with the definition of the word lead which includes, “to direct the course / show the way by influence.” My audiences got the message immediately. You lead people, not manage them. Yes, we sometimes have to practice the workplace equivalent of “tough love,” but when leadership is done right to begin with, the unpleasant leadership responsibilities are minimized significantly.

To be clear about this message, I am not saying that you only lead and never manage. Here’s what I am saying—you lead (direct the course / show the way by influence) people and manage (control, handle and manipulate) processes or job functions. So the best answer to my question in the title of this article is, “both!”

It might be healthy to ask yourself these questions: 1) Do I practice good leadership and management? 2) Do I correctly distinguish when to use leadership over management and vice versa?

Leaders influence their team members—unfortunately it’s not always in a positive way. Everything team members see you do and hear you say impacts their impression of you and sometimes what they come to believe as acceptable and/or unacceptable behavior. If you are positive about a potential change and show confidence that the team can accomplish the change, your chances of success are greatly increased.

If, on the other hand, you show skepticism about achieving the change, some will jump on that bandwagon quickly. Others are left with a hopeless feeling equivalent to “fighting city hall.” I have worked with many organizations striving to create positive change, and sometimes hear front-line supervisors express their skepticism to team members. It might sound like: “Here we go... I don’t even know why we are going down this road... again! It’s always all talk and no action.” When I hear such skepticism I can’t help but wonder if they realize how much responsibility they may have for the lack of positive change.

Many front-line supervisors do inspire others to believe that positive change is possible—and they have fun doing it. Even if you are feeling skeptical, remember that you only have two choices: 1) Try to make the improvement or 2) Not try. Only one of these choices can bring about success, so why not try?

Click this link to learn more about the book Leadership and Self-Deception. It is an entertaining and highly instructive story about a little known organizational problem called “self-deception” and the surprising way to solve it.