Surely we fulfill all three roles during our lives? Do we really need to debate the differences? What does it matter? Intellectually I do understand the need to define, debate and clarify these different roles, but I live and work in the real world, and I guess I come from the ‘so what’ brigade. What difference will it make to my day to day life?
So what makes a leader? Do you think leaders are born or made, is it nurture or nature that makes leaders? Wherever I go I find people on different sides of this debate. There are numerous research studies and academic theories which will inform both sides of the argument, but as I noted above, I just want to know what difference being a leader, manager or coach makes – in the real world, my world. Can I fulfill all three roles?
So, lets look at Leaders.
Leaders are only leaders if others follow them, they need to be perceived as leaders. So why do people follow leaders? This question applies as much to Hitler, Stalin, and Osama bin Laden as it does to Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair – why do people follow them? Who do you think of as a leader? What is your definition of leadership?
I have my own definition of a leader, it isn’t scientific but has been developed over years of observation in work and home settings. Leaders are passionate, believe whole heartedly in what they are doing, have vision, see possibilities, the big picture, how things can be, drive change, make a difference and develop a loyal following that believe in their leadership.
The effective leaders skills include being an effective communicator, not always a good orator but they all have highly developed influencing and negotiating skills.
So, what about Managers?
Effective managers understand what the goal is and what needs to happen to achieve the goal. They value the power of teams and are skilled at building teams that will deliver the goals. A manager focuses on the here and now, what needs to happen and when they are skilled project managers and programme managers. They know that there are a number of milestones which need to be delivered in order to achieve the ultimate goal.
Where a leader sees and designs change a manager delivers the change. A leader without a manager achieves little. A manager without a leader is unsure of what the goal should be and delivers little.
So , where does the Coach fit in?
Do leaders and managers need coaches? What is it the coach can bring to this debate? Can leaders and managers become coaches? Why have a coach?
Why do football clubs employ coaches? Why is it that when a team fails it is the coach/manager that is fired not the players and yet if the business is failing we fire some or all of the team? Ever been in a situation where the team took the fall for management failure?
So what exactly is it the coach does? Effective coaches are catalysts, they enable individuals and teams to achieve peak performance, to follow the leader and achieve the goal. When individual’s or team’s, win the FA Cup, Stanley Cup, take home Olympic medals or the Wimbledon tennis trophy behind all of these there is a coach.
Effective coaches will be the catalyst which enables the individual to finish their first marathon or deliver their first sales presentation. Some coaches are trained, others are individuals that have ‘been there and done that’ and yet others understand how to release individual potential.
The common thread for an effective coach is the ability to release the energy, motivation and potential of the individual or team to enable them to achieve their goal. The single most important issue is that the coach and the individual or team connect – that there is respect and understanding and ultimately belief. The team or individual need to believe that the coach will be the catalyst they need while the coach needs to believe their support will ensure the coachee/s can achieve peak performance.
So, which one am I and can I occupy more than one of these?
I think we can all be leaders, managers and coaches although we do need to know which of these roles we are fulfilling at any one time and what that means to how we act and communicate.
I also think that we will so one of these roles better than the other two even if we can do all three. The skills we need to be an inspirational leader are different from those of an effective manager and a competent coach. although they are not mutually exclusive, we will naturally gravitate towards one more than another.
What is important is that we recognise that leaders need managers and coaches, just as managers and coaches need leaders and all of them need teams.
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