The difference between leadership and management
Leading Like a C.O.A.C.H. Book Study
This post kicks off our July book study for Leading Like a C.O.A.C.H. Anticipate articles from a variety of contributors every couple of days or so. If you haven’t already, sign up for this free newsletter to make sure each post arrives in your email inbox.
In my book, I share a couple of definitions of instructional leadership.
“When those in a leadership position focus on implementing practices that will increase student learning.” (DeWitt, P. 2020, pg. 10)
“The practice of making and implementing operational and improvement decisions.” (Baeder, J., 2018, pg. 2)
Both definitions imply that both leadership and management skills are necessary for leading a school toward excellence.
However, in my fifteen years as a educational administrator, I have learned there is a difference between the two.
Leadership is visible and management is invisible.
Leadership is about decision-making. People will make a case to you for one choice or another, and respond when a decision is made.
Who do we hire for this position?
Which literacy resource should we go with for curriculum acquisition?
Should this staff member be on a plan for improvement?
Sometimes the decision is shared, but the leader is always responsible.
Conversely, management is about processes and systems.
How is student attendance monitored?
Are we consistent with discipline procedures?
How do we talk to encourage honest and authentic discourse? Technology, handbooks, and collaborative norms (respectively) all guide this work.
We only notice management when the processes and systems don't work.
And yet…
Leadership and management are dependent on each other.
An example is a basketball game.
The coaches and players are the leaders: they are constantly making decisions about which plays to run and shots to take.
The referees and rules are management: they allow the leaders to play the game successfully.
So, while it might helpful to contrast the two concepts to understand both, one cannot exist without the other for supporting successful organizations.
This is what leading like a coach means: embracing multiple identities and roles within our positions in order to effectively respond to our school’s needs.
(This was originally published on Typeshare and shared out on social media.)
Matt, this was a great start to the book study for me because it is a tension I struggle with. I have spent time with others where one or the other is prioritized too much leading to frustrations. I think this is why, like a basketball game, you need skilled people you trust and enjoy working with to ebb and flow through the roles together. It would be a great discussion post for a leadership team to start the year with. Thanks!
Matt, I really appreciate the analogies and stories threaded throughout your posts and responses to the posts of others. They help to make the content even more relatable, cause me to pause and reflect on similar stories/events, and look for gaps in my own learning. For instance, I'm thinking about your comment "We only notice management when the processes and systems don't work." When staff are complaining, it's almost always because the management piece has fallen apart. It's a fine dance, this interdependence of leadership and management, and I agree, you cannot have one without the other.