You may have heard the adage, “Leaders are great managers, but all managers are not great leaders.” Management and leadership serve distinct functions that drive effective leadership and organizational success. Effective leaders excel at management as well as empowering change; effective managers may lack transformative influence.
This blog post explains how effective leaders integrate management practices and leadership skills to help organizations succeed. Keep reading to explore the differences and how pursuing a Doctor of Education can prepare you for more effective leadership by building competence in both areas.
What’s the Difference Between Management and Leadership?
Management and leadership are skill sets of effective leaders. Leaders need both to achieve day-to-day objectives and long-term strategic goals.
Management is directing processes, resources and people to ensure smooth organizational functioning. Examples of management practices are:
- Defining job responsibilities.
- Assigning tasks to team members.
- Conducting performance reviews.
- Implementing organizational policies.
- Preparing progress reports.
Leadership refers to the mindsets and behaviors that align people in a common direction. Effective leadership enables people to achieve shared goals and adapt to change.
Management practices and leadership skills are complementary—driving action while fostering collaboration, motivation and innovation.
What Are the Qualities of Effective Leaders?
Leaders' actions and behaviors reflect the qualities of effective leadership. Though every leader has a distinctive approach, some qualities are essential to inspiring, guiding and influencing others:
- Empathy: Listening to others and assuming their perspectives, building trust that maintains an engaged and positive work environment.
- Good Communication: Practicing and promoting logical reasoning and communicating accurately and effectively in verbal, written and non-verbal contexts.
- Strategic Mindset: Thinking critically and strategically to arrive at reasonable conclusions.
- Creativity: Thinking creatively and applying new perspectives and methods to solve problems and shift paradigms.
- Collaboration: Working cooperatively with all stakeholders, exhibiting self-respect and respect for others.
Today's professionals have a critical opportunity to grow their leadership skills. According to a 2023 McKinsey survey of 2,500 business leaders, just one-quarter of respondents think their organizational leaders are engaged, passionate and inspirational. You can advance organizational success by building your leadership competence.
What Are the Management Practices of Effective Leaders?
Leaders who follow specific management practices empower organizations to flourish. Effective leaders drive success through strategic planning, data-driven decision-making and conflict resolution. They also apply systems thinking and proactively engage employees in their work. Together, these practices promote organizational efficiency and growth.
1. Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is a core management practice of effective leaders. It drives transformation by clarifying the direction an organization is headed.
Effective leaders participate and guide others in strategic planning. This can involve:
- Developing the vision—what the organization aspires to achieve long-term.
- Defining goals and plans for achieving the vision.
- Translating plans into action.
- Monitoring organizational progress toward goals.
- Refining the strategic plan as needed.
Vision-setting is essential for organizational success. It creates what McKinsey calls “strategic clarity,” an organizational practice that can significantly affect performance. When leaders define and communicate the vision, the organization can align team members around it and drive progress.
2. Data-Driven Decision-Making
According to McKinsey research, organizations that base decisions on data are 63% more likely to adapt to changing business environments. This is why data-driven decision-making is a fundamental management practice. Leaders who ground their decisions in research-based evidence have the clarity to capitalize on opportunities and reduce risk.
Effective leaders leverage decisiveness and research. They can conduct and apply qualitative, quantitative or mixed-method studies for practical decision-making. For example, a leader might analyze sales data and customer interviews to create a targeted promotion that addresses declining revenue.
Effective leaders also show humility and flexibility in their decision-making. They involve others, proactively collecting constructive input to ensure decisions reflect diverse knowledge and perspectives.
Every “failure” is a valuable learning opportunity. However, effective leadership limits harm and promotes positive outcomes through data-driven, inclusive decision-making.
3. Conflict Resolution
Workplace conflict is inevitable—and on the rise. According to research by The Myers-Briggs Company, the number of people who reported dealing with workplace conflict "often, very often or all the time" increased from 29% to 36% between 2008 and 2022. Poor communication was the leading cause.
Effective leaders embrace conflict as an innate organizational dynamic and use it as a growth opportunity. When conflict arises between others, a leader's role is to guide people toward a resolution addressing the root cause. By doing so, they create productive and collaborative workplaces with high morale.
Considering cross-cultural contexts is critical to effective leadership during conflict resolution. Leaders promote inclusivity by recognizing and adapting to the cultural norms, values and preferences of diverse individuals.
Leaders often facilitate negotiations, encouraging open and honest communication that uncovers common ground. They may also participate in negotiations as a neutral mediator. Effective leaders steer discussions without taking sides, ushering people toward win-win outcomes.
Conflict is unavoidable, and effective leaders address it constructively.
4. Systems Thinking
Systems thinking is understanding and considering the interrelationships between various parts of an organization. Effective leaders know how individuals, groups and processes work together.
When leaders apply systems thinking, they can improve organizational performance. During his tenure, the former CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, used systems thinking to help grow the coffee chain from four stores to over 30,000 stores. He viewed the company as an interconnected system of employee satisfaction, customer experience and supply chain management. By considering the relationships between these elements, he drove tremendous organizational growth.
Systems thinking enables leaders to understand complex problems better, create solutions that address root causes and anticipate the potential outcomes.
5. Employee Engagement
According to Gallup, organizational effectiveness improves when employees are involved in and excited about their work and workplace. Engaged employees contribute to greater productivity and profitability.
Leaders influence employee engagement through their behavior and actions, but they should also actively participate in formal employee engagement practices. The goal is to nurture relationships, motivate employees and equip them with the knowledge and resources to do their best work.
Management practices related to employee engagement include:
- Communication: Communicating openly about important decisions, goals and strategies and actively listening for feedback and differing perspectives.
- Recognition: Recognizing employees for their achievements and showing appreciation for their contributions.
- Training & Development: Creating and encouraging formal training and career development opportunities and providing regular, constructive feedback.
Effective leaders improve employee engagement by demonstrating the behavior they expect from others and taking action through management practices. This approach is vital to building trust, which fuels organizational success.
How a Doctor of Education from Spalding University Can Elevate Your Leadership
Earning a Doctor of Education (EdD) is a formal pathway to enhancing leadership effectiveness. It is the highest level of education that a professional can attain in applied leadership.
Spalding University offers an accredited online EdD in Leadership that equips current and aspiring leaders to provide effective leadership in business, education, nonprofit organizations, social work, public health and beyond. It prepares working professionals to lead and innovate in the modern era.
Spalding’s online EdD in Leadership explores behavioral theories of leadership, management practices and leadership skills. You will learn how to lead more strategically and ethically through courses such as Systems Theory and Leadership, Ethical Leadership, and Research Methodology and Problem Solving.
As a student, you will:
- Evolve your leadership approach through the analysis of traditional and modern theory and personal development.
- Develop a sophisticated awareness and understanding of the cultural differences in local, national and global contexts to evolve your leadership practices.
- Use proven methods and systems thinking to facilitate innovation and influence organizational transformation.
- Apply research-based best practices and methodologies to support impactful, data-driven decisions as demonstrated in a final capstone project.
Graduates of the program are equipped to become exemplary practitioners of ethical organizational leadership, extraordinary team builders, systems thinkers and drivers of change and innovation in a global economy.
Inspire Change in Your Workplace and Community with Spalding’s Online EdD in Leadership
Spalding’s accredited online EdD in Leadership provides a fresh perspective on being a transformative leader. The program is collaborative, interdisciplinary and globally conscious.
You will connect with students from a diverse, cross-sectional cohort of professionals, learning best practices from cutting-edge research. You will also benefit from the flexible format, which allows you to earn your terminal degree while continuing to work full-time and graduate in under two years.
Amplify your influence across all industries and roles with our online EdD in Leadership. Connect with an enrollment advisor to get started.
