Team Leadership Training: Is It Different from Management Training?
Is there a difference between team leadership training and management training? In fact, do we teach team leadership training at all, or is it a subset of management training? Recently the question was asked of me: Is the skill necessary to lead teams successfully different from the skill set of an effective manager? It got me thinking about the skills themselves and whether we have team leadership training that builds those skills. I know there are dozens of training programs on how to manage teams. But I wonder if there is a unique set of skills that are or should be taught in team leadership training that is different from management training. I have my own ideas on this, but would love to hear yours. Send me your thoughts, ideas and insights on two questions. First, is there a different set of skills to be a successful team leader or an effective manager? The second question, is team leadership training different from management training?
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Leadership is certainly a different quality than managerial ability. What I think is the biggest separation between these two capabilities is the vision for something bigger than what already exists. To be a great manager is to get the most out of the tools that you have while leadership is the ability to develop an entirely new set of tools. Therefore, true leadership is the ability to see this vision of greatness and then get your team to embrace this vision as their own.
There is an argument to be made that Leadership is a quality that is born and not bred. However, I believe that staff can, indeed, be trained to be leaders. Leadership training needs to be opportunity with direction. The curriculum should be filled with exposure to other forms of greatness and an environment where ideas can be cultivated.
Jurgen Appelo writes:
“The reality of business requires us to be pragmatic about leadership. Every organization has to be managed, on behalf of its owners. And yes, it is nice for managers to have some leadership capabilities, but managers shouldn’t think they are the only leaders in the organization. In fact, in the best performing businesses many leadership roles are taken up by self-organizing (and non-managing) people throughout the organization. On the other hand, these leaders must acknowledge that self-organization in a business requires a little direction from the owners, which happens by passing authority around through one or more layers of management.”
Full story at http://www.whatdoyouwantfromthem.com/members/blog_view.asp?id=566624&post=100146
I think there are 3 overlapping concepts here: Innovation, Leadership and Management. Innovation has to do with the creation of new or different perspectives – not always brand new from scratch, but a different approach, way of thinking, products or services or processes. Leadership is that elusive element of getting folks to follow your ideas willingly, or bringing out the ideas of a group so that everyone is marching to the same drummer. Management is about coordination, collaboration, and leveraging a structured reporting relationship to get things done effectively, efficiently. And when these three collaboration motions are in sync – a strong manager, who leads their group, and leverages the collective knowledge to build innovative solutions – it’s a memorable experience.
Depends on how the term management (in management training) is being used. If by management we also mean leadership, it seems to me the two are hard to separate, practically or conceptually. Effective managers (leaders) are also effective team leaders. They almost have to be; it one looks at the literature on effective teams, the characteristics of an effective team closely track the skills that leaders need to bring to the table. For example, effective teams are clear about what they need to accomplish and how they will accomplish it. Effective leaders articulate clearly what is to be done and involve others in determining how the attendant tasks will be accomplished. All of the other characteristics (and the list can vary somewhat) also involve leadership (defining roles, responsibilites, ground rules, time lines, etc.). In 2011, effective leaders (managers) are ipso facto effective team leaders.
If on the other hand, management refers to folks who handle the details required to make “the trains run on time”, others skills and competencies might be involved.