Leadership is the ability to create the circumstances that allow the potential of your co-workers to be utilized to the fullest extent imaginable. Management is the ability to organize things in most efficient and generative way possible.
Being a leader has many characteristics that are different from being a manager.
Leadership is a relationship, management is a position. The position of a manager is something you are appointed from people above you in the organisation. The relationship of a leader is something you are awarded from people at the same level as you or below you in the organisation.
It is possible for a manager to also be a leader , but a leader is not in every case a manager . If you are the manager of a community or project and someone else is awarded the leadership of the group you may be in for a challenging situation .
A manager needs to practice his or her leadership skills to be able to achieve the be possible outcome . This includes skills such as hearing, giving and taking feedback, communicating clearly and enhancing trust.
The need for both a manager and a leader
A leader can manage without being a good manager, as well as a manager can get the desired outcome without being a good leader, but that is less likely. Whatever the situation both skill-sets are needed for productivity and successfulness.
A team without both a leader and manager is a bit like a rowing boat with only one oar. It tends to go round in a circle .
If a good leader is present, but good management is lacking, then problems will arise because things such as budgets, work-flows and organizational charts will be not as good as they could be . On the other hand if the team has a good manager, but lacks good leadership, lots of energy will be lost through conflicts that are not handled properly, fear getting in the way of the best possible results and misunderstandings about expectations and intentions.
Leadership and management related to the maturity of the group
A less well developed group of people tends to appreciate the skill-set of a skilled manager, being able to clearly set the direction, putting structures in place and creating easy to follow work instructions . These are good skills in the least mature stage of group development.
As the unit becomes more mature and conflicts and confrontations start to become more common place this is when a good leader needs to become mroe active in this second stage of group development. This is quite possible the same person as the manager, but it could also be somebody else in the team We can also called this informal leader of the group.
As the unit develops more and moves into the third stage of group development there is again more of a need for both management and leadership.