Management, Unlike Leadership

In yesterday’s episode, A Brief History of Management, I posed a series of questions without providing answers.

I’d like to offer a few bullets to encourage you to embrace your managerial prowess without being shy about the shift.

Management, unlike leadership, includes these important skill sets:

• Communication Efficiency
• Meeting Management
• Personnel Coordination
• Planning for Roadblocks
• Monitoring Strategic Plans
• Follow-Up
• Resource Allocation
• Event Organization

Management might deal more with these “nuts and bolts” than does leadership. What’s not often discussed is the fact that well-executed management tasks are the prerequisites to the lasting respect that’s needed for a principal to become a leader.

When Did Management Become a Bad Word?

Actually, we never fully embraced the term in education. Although the degree programs that prepared principals were called Mid-Level Management.

When and why did the term develop a negative connotation?

It probably has to do with the wrong people in the leadership positions. It also might have to do with the abuse of power or the negative effects of micro-management.

Do Schools Have Managers?

Well, I certainly hope so! Regardless of what term you call it, there is always going to be someone who’s responsible for certain tasks, reporting on plans and progress, and monitoring performance. This is the the manager. Hopefully, it’s also the person in the principal’s desk.

A principal is the manager of the school. She can also be a leader.

The two terms are distinct.

Management deals with the positions, roles, and tasks of running a school. Leadership is the perception that a group has toward a person. 

They key is putting the person with the right leadership style and management skills in the right management position.