Leadership Styles Essay Example

The difference between leadership and management can often have a gray area. Leaders are innovative and forward moving for their companies, whereas managers are more employee and numbers focused. There are two different assessments that help a person figure out what type of leadership qualities they exude. The two tests are DISC and the Leadership Legacy Style assessment each can add valuable insight to allow one to focus on their lesser qualities in order to be an asset to the company that they work for. Many say that leaders are born, and managers are trained. We often hear people described as a natural or born leader. In many professions having a strong leader is a must. “Management and leadership are terms that are frequently used interchangeably, however, they are not the same thing - they have quite distinct meanings.” (Bargau, M.-A. (2015)

I chose to take the leadership legacy style assessment, my top six results were ambassador, advocate, people maker, truth seeker, creative builder, and experience guide. My top three were experience guide, truth-seeker, and advocate. I rated the experience guide the highest, it sums my leadership up to being able to listen and empathize. I rated second highest in truth-seeker which is a person described as competent and someone that is considered very level headed. Lastly, I scored third highest as an advocate which is a strong role, there is a down-side to being an advocate which is their ability to only see in black and white. Therefore, they usually need an ambassador for their team to persuade others to go with what the advocate is saying. 

Leadership versus Management Style

It is often easy to combine leadership and management in the same category, however, they have they have more differences than similarities. Leadership has more to do with the company wide aspect, whereas management tends to deal more with employees of the company. Even though they are vastly different they create a balance within the company that allows for a functional unit. I work in a bank setting and have different meetings and training and I get to meet and mingle with companies’ important people and you can always tell the difference between a leader and those who simply manage. 

Our Vice President of company relations is one of the most personable people that you will ever have the pleasure to meet. When he attends one of the trainings, he always takes a few minutes at the end to say a final word. Upon walking out the door, I always feel invigorated and supported by my company as well as wanting to contribute the vision of my bank. On the other side of that is that recently I got a new branch manager, and while I like her very much, she is not much of a leader. She tends to only be focused on production and sales, as well as making sure we adhere to her policy. While admittedly it is her job to uphold us to the company’s standards, it lends itself to become stress driven and a frantic work environment. 

Leadership

Getting more in-depth about leadership qualities that make them a very essential part of the company is that they encourage change. When it comes to long term vision, leaders are looking to the future, they look for the growth of the company and try to ensure that the company is successful and has a great reputation. They are the forward thinkers of companies and drive forward the innovation and success overall. 

Management 

The definition of management is to tend to executive, administrative, and direction of a group or organization. As mentioned before leaders tend to focus on the bigger picture of the company, managers focus more on the employees and inner workings of the company. Managers rely on policies and procedures and completion of tasks is on the top of their priority list. Often managers can get a bad name because they must exert their authority when it comes to the company’s employees as far as disciplining and/or firing.