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Top Tips - Manager to Leader

The difference between a manager and a leader is fairly obvious – managers administer, maintain and control; leaders have vision, engender loyalty and inspire people.

But how do you make the transition from one to the other? Read our top tips for some thought provoking ideas.

The difference between a manager and a leader is fairly obvious – Mmanagers administer, maintain and control; leaders have vision, engender loyalty and inspire people.

But how do you make the transition from one to the other? Read the following top tips for a few pointers to help you on your journey.

1. Innovation is easy – so long as it has clarity of purpose!

Managers want their colleagues to be innovative and forward thinking but leaders know they cannot achieve this without a clearly communicated direction and purpose.  To lead, you need to set the course by defining an over-arching statement of intent.  It also helps if this is creatively positioned – nothing is more inspirational than a memorable message. Spend time illustrating your vision, the goals and the challenges while reinforcing how important each individual is to achieve them.

2. Learn to love change

Managers like status quo and control whereas leaders continually promote and embrace change. They are not afraid to show ambition and encourage others to continually strive for improvement. Leaders will explain that, while trying new ventures is risky, standing still is riskier. They create a vision of an appealing future that is worth taking risks to achieve.

3. Think like a venture capitalist

Try using a venture capitalist’s ‘portfolio approach’ of balancing the risk of losers with the upsides of winners. They work with a large number of proposals knowing that many of the ideas they back will fail. Many managers fear failure so much that they limit themselves to ‘guaranteed success’, leaders take calculated risks.

4. Be passionate

Managers are often so busy ‘running things’ that they lose their passion for the job.  Leaders focus on the things they want to change and communicate passionate reasons for doing so. Energy and drive translates itself into direction and inspiration. Leaders inspire people to innovate, to change the way they do things and to achieve the best results.  They are passionate about what they believe in and communicate that passion every time they speak.

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