People Strategies: Management, leadership combine for balance

Linda Bower is a speaker, executive coach and human performance improvement consultant in Rogersville.

Productivity rises when people love their jobs and feel like they are making a positive contribution. Productivity drops when people feel underappreciated and poorly utilized.

These two statements are at the crux of the challenge facing most corporations: Employee fulfillment is key to employee performance.

Fortune 500 companies recognize that high levels of performance and fulfillment depend on the application of two distinct, but interrelated, concepts: management and leadership. These companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to train their executives and managers to improve performance through management practices, and increase fulfillment through leadership practices.

Management and leadership

Generally speaking, management practices impact performance, and leadership practices influence fulfillment. If most employees are high performers, then management practices are strong. If most employees are highly fulfilled, then leadership practices are strong.

Management practices improve performance by establishing policies, processes and systems that make it easier for people to work. Managers provide direction to assure that results are achieved and resources are allocated in a cost-effective way.

Leadership practices, in contrast, help employees make connections between individual performance and the larger company purpose. Leaders increase fulfillment by encouraging people to learn and reach their potential. Leaders inspire people to see the opportunity and possibilities that come with change and growth.

To further consider the differences between management and leadership practices, compare them in the box above.

Ultimately, only you can be responsible for your own management and leadership choices. If you are at an executive level, all the more reason to pay attention. Your management and leadership practices have a direct impact on the people who report to you, and they have a direct impact on the people who report to them. Executives set the stage for the company culture, and employee performance and fulfillment. That's the way it is.

If your executives are progressive, then so is your company. If your executives are political, then so is your company. If your executives are confused, then so is your company. If your executives demonstrate strong management and leadership practices, then so will your company.

There are some exceptions. Have you ever witnessed one department regularly out-perform all the rest? Look at their management and leadership practices. They probably have a good balance regardless of how the rest of the organization functions.

How balanced is your organization?

To determine the strength of management and leadership practices in your team, department or company, try the following exercise.

At the top of a page write the following categories:

High performance/High fulfillment (great!)

High performance/Low fulfillment (productivity is at risk)

Low performance/High fulfillment (hopefully a new employee)

Low performance/Low fulfillment (retired in place)

Write names of the people you are including in your study in the column that best describes their current state. Put your own name down, too.

What patterns do you see? Are most people in one area or are they scattered about? What percentage of people are in each column?

If most people are high performing with low fulfillment, then attention to management is dominating any efforts towards leadership, and employee fulfillment is at risk. Looking at the attributes of leadership above, which areas require the most attention?

If most people are highly fulfilled and low performing, then your staff is new or you better get people cracking. Improve your management practices immediately. Looking at the attributes of management above, which areas require the most attention for new people and poor performers?

You can track your progress by revisiting this exercise periodically. Date your worksheet each time and compare how people move from column to column.

Once you know which area you want to improve management or leadership there are abundant options for deciding and implementing an individual development plan. As you search the Internet, visit the library, attend workshops or get a degree in management, make sure you avoid trendy answers and don't try anything you don't believe in. If you are not true to yourself, employees will sense your conflict and will be less likely to respond to your efforts.