Leadership Defined

There are many definitions of leadership. For our purposes, we define leadership as a position of authority, having an ability to lead even without a position of power, or influencing people within an organization to achieve a specific goal. That might sound like a position that is reserved for higher-level managers or people who have worked for the company for a long time, however, leaders don’t necessarily have a title.

Leaders may be informally appointed by the followers of a workgroup to lead, or they may hold formal positions of power in an organization. For leadership to exist, there must be four essential elements (Rosari, 2019):

1. The relationship must be based on influence

2. Leaders and followers are people in the relationship

3. Leaders and followers intend real change

4. Leaders and followers develop mutual purpose

We will discuss different types of leaders and different ways that leaders achieve power, but it is important to remember that true leadership should involve mutual respect and interaction between the leader and followers. For there to be leaders, there must be followers. Even people with the best ideas or people with good titles cannot hold leadership positions without people who are willing to follow.

It is important to stress the idea of mutual respect between a leader and a follower. While leaders have a vision and a drive to achieve, they must respect their followers and make decisions that benefit both themselves and their followers. We wouldn’t follow a leader who had bad ideas or didn’t care about our well-being, and leaders who acted in a way that disrespected their followers would find themselves with very few followers. There is a mutual relationship between leaders and followers, where one cannot exist without the other.

We all know leaders in our own lives. You might even be a leader within your workgroup or group of friends. Leaders are the person that others look to for guidance, or to provide us with knowledge or support. Likewise, leaders in an organization serve to move the organization forward, especially in a difficult time. A good leader is inspirational, has integrity, and is inspiring to their followers. An organization will likely have multiple leaders, some will hold formal positions of power and authority, and some will be recognized as leaders, but without a formal title. When you think about your workplace, you may have a formal manager who you report to; but you might also have an informal leader whom you respect for their knowledge, and might ask for direction even though they aren’t in your chain of command.

As we explore leadership, it is important to remember that not all leaders are role models. Some leaders are harmful or lead in the wrong direction. Throughout history, leaders have moved a cause or organization forward in a meaningful and sometimes inspirational way. However, leadership can have a dark side where the leader might use their influence to harm others. As history has shown, there are examples of people who have risen to power, only to use their power for personal gain.

Differentiating Leadership and Management

Leadership and management are sometimes used interchangeably. While leadership and management may share similar duties, “management skills are used to plan, build and direct organizational systems, whereas leadership skills are used to focus on potential change by establishing direction, aligning people, and motivating and inspiring workers” (Algahtani, 2014, p. 71). Leaders tend to view the big picture of what the organization could be. They move everyone towards a vision. However, their power may be earned from their actions and given by their peers. Managers are responsible for daily activities and ensuring that specific tasks are completed. Managers may not even be responsible for people. For example, some data managers and analysts are managers, but neither may direct people responsible for work. Managers are critical for the oversight of daily work efforts and provide direction for the workers that report to them. Table 2.1 below outlines some of the key differences between leaders and managers.

Table 2.1 Managers vs. Leaders

Managers maintain the status quo and work to achieve organizational goals, while leaders push for change. Leaders tend to be inspirational and achieve results with motivation rather than direction. The term vision is often used when discussing leaders— the vision to see the future and take risks to achieve that vision. Leaders move toward creating change in an organization, while managers maintain the current way of thinking and doing. You may think about managers who inspire you to do your best work, while other managers might have just directed your work. Both leaders and managers are critical in any organization, however, when we speak of leadership in this chapter, we will be focusing specifically on leaders, not managers.

Good leaders are inspirational, have integrity, and move workers toward achieving their best. Leadership may be viewed as a multi-directional influence relationship allowing for the leader and the follower to share ideas and influence. A manager is a unidirectional authority, providing direction from the top down and with little shared influence (Algahtani, 2014). Managers might be viewed as traditional bosses, providing work direction and often rewarded for achieving certain goals or work metrics. Leaders are driven to do the best work, but the vision is a much longer-term focus, driving the department or organization towards bigger accomplishments.

As the workplace changes and job changes are more common, an organization will find it necessary to keep talented workers. There will be more of a need for leaders and less need for managers. When workers feel no connection to the organization or are not motivated, they will leave to find a new job, resulting in the loss of a valuable employee and the need to hire a new employee, all very costly activities. In the 21^st century, leaders have taken on a more important role in organizations because they can inspire workers and often create that connection to work that is essential for the current and future generation of workers. Keeping talent and inspiring workers is the job of leaders, and the traditional management view of top-down direction and control of resources and information may prohibit employees and companies from achieving their optimum performance. Think about how you want your workplace to run, how you want to be engaged in decision making, or participate in new ideas that make the organization better. This is the reason leadership matters; it creates that inspiration and connection.