Strategic Management vs. Leadership

The terms Strategic Management and Leadership are often used interchangeably. The prefix 'strategic' before management makes people believe that it has something to do with leadership skills. However, in a nutshell, strategic management is one of the many skills that a good leader must possess. While it is not difficult to distinctly define the two, both these terms are often interconnected. Let us explore some of the similarities and differences between these two terms. 

Managers and Leaders   

It is a common mistake to assume managers for leaders. Using misleading terms such as 'team leaders' for managers invoke even more confusion. However, one must understand that there is a significant difference between the core responsibilities of managers and leaders. While managers are more concerned with running day-to-day activities of an organization as per a predefined plan, leaders are more involved with 'making' of these plans. In simple words, leaders formulate policies while managers implement them. Some of the differentiating aspects of managers and leaders are:

• Managers are often resistant to change and focus on dispatching their duties as per a pre-defined strategy.

• The very source of a leader's existence comes from the need to 'change'. Leaders sense the changing behaviors of internal (employees, organization) and external (client, market, competitors etc.) entities and bring about necessary changes in the organizational policies. 

• Managers are more concerned with maintaining status-quo, whereas leaders associate themselves with the mission and vision of an organization. 

Strategic Management and Leadership

Strategic management is closely associated with leadership. It is different in a way that strategic managers do not blindly follow the policies. They implement advanced performance metrics to assess the performance of their employees and actively participate in the appraisal process. They focus on the core competencies of the employees and align their tasks accordingly. In fact, they are instrumental in creating future leaders.  

Strategic managers are not resistant to change. In fact, they are pivotal in bringing about changes that can positively impact the organizational development. Strategic managers possess comprehensive knowledge about the organization; hence prove to be a valuable resource in critical tasks such as initiating planning, execution, control and evaluation. Strategic managers supervise and coordinate technological, material, financial and human resources of an organization. Their objective is to help an organization and its stakeholders to achieve the stipulated goals and mission effectively. 

Last but not the least; management is a position that is assigned to an individual whereas leadership is a quality that renders him followers!

Techniques for Motivating Employees

If there exists any successful mantra for extracting the desired output from employees, then it is 'motivation'. Yes, motivation can do wonders for boosting the morale of your employees. A good management team knows how to keep their employees motivated and encourage them to perform better. Motivation is an adhesive that keeps the employees and management together and increases their collective strength. Here are some motivational techniques often implemented by HR and OD consultants, that will not only help you to enhance the performance of your employees but will also strengthen their relationship with you. 

 

Communicating Your Expectations

It is a great idea to align your organization's goals with personal goals of an employee. An employee must have a clear understanding regarding what is exactly expected out of her. This will eliminate ambiguities that might result due to miscommunication and the employee will be able to direct her efforts only where they are required. 

Understanding the Motivational Needs of Employees

While there is no doubt that every employee needs motivation, the means of motivation may differ for each employee. One employee may just need recognition for her work in form of words while other employee may get motivated if you help her achieve work-life balance. Nonetheless, all employees derive encouragement, if their efforts are rewarded in some form.    

Performance Incentives  

Who doesn't like to be rewarded whenever they accomplish something? Rewards or incentives are a great way to keep your employees motivated and help them achieve bigger goals. However, it is important to make sure that the employee should be intrinsically motivated; meaning the sense of accomplishment must come from deep inside. The employee must not be motivated to perform, just because there is a reward in the end. 

Develop Mutual Trust

Mutual trust is of utmost importance when it comes to motivating employees. Employees must never doubt your intentions whenever you assign them a responsibility. They must feel assured that when you assign a job to them, they are going to contribute to an organization's development in some way.  

Create a Common Ground for Everyone to Perform          

The employees will only feel motivated whenever they are assured that their performance is being measured by a fair, transparent system. To achieve this, it is important to identify core competencies of every employee and create a ground to suit their respective competencies. Although tedious, this is the best means to achieve a fair and transparent system to monitor their performance and reward them. 

Managers are often considered as a role model for their employees. The employees tend to scrutinize their manager's behavior and mimic it. Hence, it is imperative that the managers themselves stay motivated and exhibit great leadership skills.   

Role of HR Beyond Hiring and Firing

Human Resources is an integral part of business management and organizational development. Recruitment, executing compensation policy and implementing exit formalities are considered to be some of the conventional roles of HR. In fact, HR personnel have been primarily associated with hiring and firing only. However, owing to changing economic and management scenarios, these traditional roles of HR have undergone a metamorphosis. Modern day HR personnel are more involved in the 'strategic' part of business management.

Scope of HR Beyond Hiring and Firing

The primary objective of HRM is to create an employee-centric work environment. As HRM is a connecting link between management and workforce, its focus should be on improving the employee-employer relationship and create a conducive environment for employees to work. To achieve this, an HR professional must shed his traditional image and adopt newer ways to devise and transform his conventional profile of hiring and firing. Given below are some of the job responsibilities of HR beyond hiring and firing.

Employee Development and Training

An HR professional must constantly look out for newer ways to enhance the personal and professional growth of employees. Implementing training programs is a good way of achieving this. The training topic can be specific, pertaining to an organization's intrinsic strategies or it can be generic such as communication, business ethics etc.   

Devising Compensation Plans

Although HRM has traditionally being associated with only the 'execution' of compensation policies, modern day HR personnel are expected to get involved in 'formulation' of compensation plans as well. An HR must be able to devise a fair compensation and benefits plan that is competency based.

Implementing Performance Evaluation Methodologies

An HR must upgrade his knowledge regarding the latest performance evaluation tools and techniques. It is important to establish a common ground for evaluating the performance of employees to develop a sense of trust. HR and OD consulting firms are extremely efficient in this area. 

Ensuring Employee Welfare  

This is the gist of all HR roles and responsibilities. An HR must never ignore the 'human' part of Human Resources Management. An HR should supervise all the policies related to employee health and safety at workplace. An HR should also ensure compliance with all the mandatory employee welfare policies, such as ensuring there is a committee to address issues such as sexual harassment, racial discrimination etc. 

Thus, the roles and responsibilities of HR have become even more critical from the point of view of an organization as well as employees. 

Management Role in Encouraging Leadership Skills

An employee is as good or bad as his manager. A manager is as much responsible for an employee's performance as the employee himself. Great managerial skills go beyond mere assigning of duties and supervising them. In fact, manager has a far bigger role to play than these activities. A manager is responsible for employee motivation, retention and extracting the desired performance from him. However, a good manager goes beyond these traditional roles and works towards creating future leaders for the company. 

Motivating Employees to Become Leaders 

Motivated, inspired employees can deliver miraculous results for an organization. A role of a manager is to inspire the employees to push their limits and perform better. Aligning the organization's goals with the professional goals of employees helps them to achieve success. However, being content with the present performance of an employee, no matter how excellent, is not enough. The efforts of management should always be focused on creating and mentoring new leaders who can take the organization further. An organization can always rely on the judgment of HR and OD consultants, who are equipped with tools and strategies for creating future leaders.

Identifying Potential Leaders

A manager is better tuned in with the strengths and weaknesses of his employees. An employee, though performing excellently may not always be a good leader-material. Similarly, an under-performing employee may sometimes make for a great future leader. It is the skill of the manager to identify the qualities of his employees that can make him/her a future leader.   

Harnessing the Leadership Qualities

The next step after identifying a potential leader is to harness his/her leadership qualities. This can be done by assigning him tasks that can put his leadership skills to test. It is a good idea to let the employees lead assignments that can do justice to their strengths. If they succeed, it can boost their confidence tremendously. Besides, they will learn the art of managing people, meeting deadlines and controlling execution, which are critical qualities of a leader.

Mentoring Future Leaders  

Once, you are confident about the choice of potential leaders, the next step is to mentor them according to the needs of an organization. A manager is a source of inspiration for the employees and often a role model too. Hence, it is imperative for you to practice what you preach. Demonstrate exemplary leadership skills so that your employees can follow in your footsteps.

Management should always treat an employee as a human first. His strengths and weaknesses are a part of his entire persona. Hence, no prejudices should be made based on just one aspect of his personality. A great leader is born only when there is a great manager to guide him.