Leadership and Management Paper

Leadership and Management Paper

Justin Thomas

LDR/300

Montgomery Beyer

06/13/2016

Leadership and management are two areas that have similarities but have differences. They both must go hand in hand to be effective but share differences that make them unique to themselves. Leadership can be hard to define at times, but as a leader you lead a team or group of people working towards a common goal. As a leader you will inspire and motivate your people and guide them through the process that they are taking. Management is the process of controlling something or people. A manager focuses on maintaining, keeping structure and keeping control of his situation. Managers need to have leadership skills along with management skills to be most effective. When both leadership and management are tools used by managers they will have a more effective way of leading their people. Managers need to be able to motivate and inspire their people along with maintaining structure and discipline.

When I think about leadership I recall my time in the United States Marine Corps. During my years in service I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Sergeant Anthony Bui. Anthony, in my eyes will always be a great leader that was able to motivate and inspire us marines to follow his lead. He always carried himself with pride and led by example everyday. Anthony would never ask any of us to do something that he himself would not do. As our leader he took the initiative and made it a point to show us everyday that as a team we can all be successful. Anthony was also very personable and shared qualities of trust. Marines in our unit would confide in him for help and guidance in any situation that they were in. When I think about a good manager I think of my current boss Angela Seawright. Angela takes initiative to maintain department goals and does a great job of directing and maintaining or department. She is very organized and always has a plan and a vision on how to execute. Angela knows what is expected from her and her team and makes sure that expectations are being met for upper management. Angela is also a good leader in my opinion because she works well with us and encourages and nourishes us when we need it. She is always available and everyone can see that when she is working on something she puts her best foot forward.

There are different leadership and management roles. Communicator is a role that leadership can have. A communicator is very proactive and continuously exchanges information within the organization. A communicator has strong communication skills and is open. Honest, fair and understanding of how to communicate in situations. A thinker is another role with leadership. A thinker is very strategic and understand all aspects of what they are working on. A thinker will identify what strong and weak areas are and use that to leverage better results. Thinkers will be situationally aware and know how to appropriately respond. The team builder is another leadership role. Team builder is effective in building the right team and inspiring them to get the job done. A team builder will be able to identify skills in others that will be needed to get the job done and place them in appropriate teams. Leadership functions include setting vision, inspiring and coaching. In any of these roles a leader will effectively coach, inspire and ensure that there is a vision in place for the direction they are taking.