Managing or Leading As The Ringmaster

An age-old discussion has been about the difference between management and leadership. John Kottter, author of Leading Change and an expert on organizational change, probably best defined the two when he said, Management is about coping with complexity. Leadership, by contrast, is about coping with change.

With that distinction in mind, where are you spending most of your mental time in your "rings" at work? Efficiency and effectiveness are needed for an organization to run smoothly. A constant focus on getting better results is also needed to stay relevant in today's workplace.

Our tendency when we are juggling elephants is to focus on management-take care of the crises, work through the problems and get things back on track. Today, try spending a little more time asking yourself, "How could we do things better as a department, organization or family?" You may find that those answers take care of some of the "management overload" you are experiencing now.