How many classic war films contain a dramatic scene in which a frontline officer has to persuade their troops to implement a campaign designed in the relative comfort of headquarters far from the action?

Hopefully not a scene you might want to play in, but this does provide us with a great analogy for the split between the roles of leader and manager.

The CEO of an organisation, the general, is charged with determining the values, goals and path for that business. The frontline officer, or manager, interprets these values and goals, and determines the allocation of resources; provides the motivation; and works closely with the team to achieve success.

Without a manager to effectively translate the ‘mission’ or ‘vision’ into plans of action, the best of visions can fail.

 
Success requires effective leadership and effective management. However without communication between the two, success may still elude an organisation. When management executes plans without fully understanding the higher level strategy they risk undermining that strategy. Also a leader who understands too little of the day to day running of the business can risk steering the company down the wrong path.

While each role is different, both are critical in developing an organisation and ensuring that growth and direction are maintained.

But can you be a leader and a manager?

Not every organisation has the luxury to clearly separate these roles. Most managers have a need to provide leadership in their role and most leaders need to manage some aspects of their business. The critical thing for them is to understand when they are leading and when they are managing.

There are many assessment tools that may encourage mangers to think that they have a particular leadership or management style and that their staff can just get used to it. However, anyone who has been to any leadership course recently will know that while everyone will have a preferred style, it is the context that should drive the way a manager behaves.

 
In the September edition of Beilby Rewards, we will celebrate some milestones achieved in our industry, including the 15th year anniversary of GeneSys Assessments in Australia and New Zealand. Beilby was the first Australasian distributor of GeneSys having already been one of the pioneers of psychometric assessment in an organisational setting. As part of that celebration we will be reviewing and assessing the evidence for the effectiveness of psychometric assessment and best practice in its use.

 
It should be an interesting discussion that we hope will provide greater understanding of the contribution of organisation psychology in general and psychometric assessments, in particular, to organisations and individuals.