Let me tell you something. You never manage people. You lead people. Years back, I was sitting in a cafe in Dallas where I saw that the staff was buzzing with enthusiasm and cheerfulness, serving their customers, and it was a crowded time, and I noticed this. Amongst them was their leader, their manager, who was dressed just like the staff who was serving. And and he himself was serving orders too. He was one amongst them, serving tables, taking the orders. He was he was amongst his people. He was guiding his staff while enjoying the work with them. He was leading people. People are not projects, they are people. So you are basically you're basically leading people because you are not managing people. You are managing someone's. In fact, you're leading their heart, mind, and soul.
Oftentimes we sit in our cabin, we keep an open-door policy, and we give instructions to our people. We give them the targets to achieve. We motivate them. We give them orders. We make the plan. We make the strategy. We take town hall meetings. We give the commands. We stick to what they know—that is managing. And let me tell you something. People who are managed are most likely to become complacent. And they get into a do-as-directed mode. They cap their thinking and they wait for instructions. They come to you with every problem because they expect you to solve it. They feel you are the go-to person, you know it all, and you are going to limit their growth and thinking. And and then that's the time when you look back and you ask yourself, oh my goodness, why are my people not thinking, why don’t I have A players? Why don’t I have a winning team? Because you are managing them.
Those who lead their people, they are the ones who mentor and coach their people. They are the ones out of their cabins and into the field every single day. They are there, just out with them. They are the ones who encourage bold conversations. They offer trainings. They they build the winning team. They set the directions. They allow them to fail. They allow them to come up with solutions. They listen to their solutions and they accept their solutions. It might not be the best, but they know that it will encourage them to come up with the best. Leaders lead people, and managers manage staff. The best leaders know how and when to manage, and the best managers know how and when to lead. It's a great combination. If you can get that, there's no crime in not being able to do both. You just have to acknowledge it and try to manage and lead people who need to be. You need to know how to strike that balance. You need to know when the lead is important and when the managing is important. It's it's a critical, functional leadership skill.
Your Good Friend and Mentor
Payal Nanjiani
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