People won’t remember your title and the number of hours you work, but they will remember how you make them feel, both inside and outside the office. They’ll remember your impact, which makes striking sense as an employee’s time with their manager is the most influential part of their day (70% of an employee’s engagement can be dependent on the relationship they have with their manager). Meaning, the impact you have on your team can make or break how invested they are in their roles. In fact, a DDI survey shows that out of 1,000 workers, 57% have left a job due to their manager.
Being a manager plays a pivotal role in the success of your company and people, accounting for talent retention and engagement, yet no one teaches you to be a manager. You enter your career, work for 5-10 years, and now you have a new title and need to figure it out as you go. Really, society has set up managers to fail, especially in a time where people value authentic, transformational leadership. There’s no guidebook or secret formula to help you succeed when you reach management level, nor is there a one-size-fits-all approach to integrate transformational leadership that has now become a priority.
So, let’s not fail. Let’s get serious when it comes to thinking about the impact you want to have on your people and company in 2025. While you may already be a manager or director, let’s get serious about how you can start transforming your management into leadership. Your journey of becoming a manger vs. leader starts here.
Manager vs. Leader: Definition
The biggest manager vs. leader difference is that managers tend to be more process-focused while leaders tend to be more people-focused. Let’s look at this in more detail.
What is a Manager?
The formal, common definition of a manager is someone who directs people within an organization, often focusing on refining and maintaining projects and tasks for themselves and their team. Managers often ensure the daily operations of a company are running smoothly, as well as the workflows of employees.
What is a Leader?
A leader is someone who rises to a higher level, producing ideas and inspiring others to help everyone reach a common vision. Guiding people to answers and adhering to their well-being are often priorities for leaders.
With these side-by-side comparisons, you can see that just because someone is a manager, doesn’t mean they’re a leader. And vice versa. You don’t have to be a manager to be a leader. You can embody your leadership style no matter which role you hold.
Manager vs. Leader Characteristics
What really sets leaders apart from just being a manager are the characteristics they embody.
Leadership Characteristic 1: Courageous
While a manager aims to maintain the status quo and avoid chaos, a leader is open to change and weathering obstacles. Leaders actively seek new opportunities to get out of their own comfort zones, while guiding their team out of theirs.
Leadership Characteristic 2: Authentic
Do you ever find that you wear a mask based on an occasion? For instance, you may act one way when having lunch with a friend but a completely different way when sharing a coffee with a colleague. A manager will conform to the situation at hand, whereas a leader stays true to themselves, no matter the situation, inspiring their team to be authentic too. They lean into their Brilliant Difference.
Leadership Characteristic 3: Resilient
Society has conditioned us to push down our feelings, especially at work. We’re encouraged to bottle it up and save it for when we get home. But how can this be when, inevitably, work can be stressful. There will be challenges. There will be obstacles. Leaders embrace their feelings and grow aware of them so they can better manage their reactions. They also go the extra miles to survey the room and understand the emotions of others. Being resilient doesn’t mean not having low, tough moments; it means processing your thoughts and emotions when you endure them to move forward in a meaningful way for you and your team.
Leadership Characteristic 4: Purposeful
Since managers are often task- and process-oriented, it’s easy to fall into the pattern of ticking off tasks one by one just to clock in in the morning and clock out in the evening. Leaders understand that there’s a deeper meaning to their work and tie what they do to their personal values and missions. They then help employees do the same. Most of your life is spent working, and tying meaning and passion to it can enhance your investment and career well-being.
Leadership Characteristic 5: Empathetic
Empathy is all about listening and understanding the perspectives of others, and this is where managers will stop. Leaders will go beyond to act upon their understanding to support their team. It’s not just empty words. They show they care.
Leadership Characteristic 6: Confident
Confidence can be hard to come by. We all have our ups and downs that can impact our workdays in various ways, but leaders show up in a way to exude confidence, even on the days when they may not necessarily feel it. For instance, let’s say you missed your alarm and are running late for work. Instead of slipping into whatever clothes you could find in the closet, a leader will pause and grab their favourite pant suit because they know they have an important meeting that day and want to feel bad ass, despite a rocky start to their day.
Leadership Characteristic 7: Generous
Leadership isn’t about being above others; it’s about inviting others to rise to the top with you. Managers tend to support their employees in what they’re already doing, while leaders invite them to other opportunities to shine in their strengths and talents.
There’s a Leader Inside You
Each and every one of us is capable of being a leader. If you thought to yourself while reading this article, “I have a lot more manager traits than I do leadership traits,” it’s okay. Leadership is a constant learning journey and there’s always room to grow.
Also, remember, being a manager isn’t bad, and neither is having manager traits! You just elevate your impact by injecting leadership into your management.
So, that’s what we at Finka Inc. invite you to do this year: get serious about the impact you want to create for those you work with and assess how you can embody more leadership characteristics in your manager or director role.
