What is leadership?

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Management and leadership are often talked about in the same breath. To be an effective leader, you need to know the difference and understand the special demands of leadership.

Is leadership different from management?

There has been a long-running debate about this. 

Most experts would say: Yes, but there is considerable overlap between the two, and an organisation needs both. Inspiring leaders must be balanced by someone with management skills who can convert the vision into action; and in today’s environment of constant change, an efficient manager may only mark time without someone who can raise people’s sights.

The features of each can be compared like this:

What does this tell us about the demands of a leadership in a non profit organisation? In a large charity, the chief executive often focuses on leadership, with his/her deputy as the key manager (sometimes called chief operating officer). In a small charity you don’t have that luxury - the director may be dealing with strategy in the morning and reorganising the files in the afternoon!

So a leader needs to juggle different demands. The most important thing is to make enough space to look to the future and not get bogged down in today's detail.

Useful links

• ACEVO: Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations
• ACOSVO: Association of Chief Officers of Scottish Voluntary Organisations
• Governance and leadership resources from NCVO

Have your say

What unexpected challenges have you faced as a leader? Have you learnt from certain situations and could you share this knowledge to help others?

Ask questions or pass on your experience and expertise by joining in a discussion on the Role of the leader forum.