October 6, 2024
Dr. El-Shaimaa Talaat Abumandour

A leader has a profound responsibility of empowering and inspiring evolution and embracing positivity and productivity within their teams. Leadership is talent and, at the same time, is a powerful skill that can be sharpened and developed to be applied in any situation. There is a big difference between manager and leader. As a leader, you help your coworkers in your team to learn, develop, and prosper. A real leader knows his/her own value and qualities, so you will find him/her keen to help others build their competencies without feeling threatened or insecure. On the contrary, leaders feel fulfilled when their team and colleagues succeed and become managers themselves.

The main role of a manager is to achieve the organizational goals and objectives through preparation and performing action plans based on the available resources. The manager should have plenty of skills that assist and facilitate performing his/her tasks such as great communication skills, coordination ability, critical thinking, proactivity, time management and more. There is a slight difference between a leader and a manager which is the timeline of achieving the organization goals. A manager focuses on achieving day-to-day processes. While a leader has a more holistic view. A strong leader aims to accomplish long term goals and help organizations to succeed. Both roles are crucial and required for the success and prosperity of any organization. Yet, a manger can be a great leader if he/she has specific characteristics such as empathy, flexibility, tolerance, willingness to listen, keen to motivate and ability to inspire others and a commitment to continuously improve.

When a formal manager uses the power of the position to reward others, share knowledge and expertise, and praise others when deserved, this will create a healthy working environment. In such a healthy environment, people are dedicated to uplift, share knowledge, learn from each other, and delegate to empower others. After all, this constructive environment will lead to increasing productivity and growth in any organization. 

Additionally, managers should lead by example, inspiring their colleagues, coworkers, and junior employees. A real leader and a great manager lead from the front, set positive examples for others, build trust, and take ownership of his/her actions and decisions. A strong leader has no problem acknowledging mistakes and learning from them, not to blame others for them. Instead, a leader handles problems and acts to find solutions. Hence, they set a great example for others of liability and encouragement. Leadership’s authority does not derive from official titles; yet, it comes from the leader’s charisma, vision, and ideas and their ability to influence others. Influencing others, helping them develop and evolve, and making a difference in life is the main goal of great leaders. Some authors mentioned that certain people have leadership abilities as a natural gift. I agree with them that it is a kind of talent, but from my point of view, I think that this could also be a skill, and anyone could work on developing it by continuously learning and adopting the right mindset and dedication.

More reads

Power and Influence in Leadership | GCU Blog

The Power of Positive Leadership: Setting the Tone and Influencing Others (linkedin.com)