Jean Roberts

Summary of address by Jean Roberts at the School of Enterprise, Victoria University, Entrepreneurs Business Network Breakfast Meeting in Melbourne, 26^th May ’10

The difference – and relationship – between ‘Management’ and ‘Leadership’, and their link with ‘Innovation’ and ‘Entrepreneurship’

Managers are involved with what, how, when, how much, at what cost, and with what benefit/return.  Management styles can be crisis, re-active and/or pro-active. 

• Jean’s article Management styles – pro-active, re-active and crisis can be downloaded free of charge from her website, www.jeanroberts.com.au 
• Jean’s 2008 Governance Kit No. 3 Personal responsibilities of nonprofit Board Members - including code of conduct, conflict of interest, confidentiality, and loyalty to the organisation’s purpose presents a Section on ‘Board Style’, recognizing these three management styles in the manner in which Committee and Boards undertake their governance role and function.

Leaders are involved with who, who with, who else, who best.  There are a variety of leadership styles, and my preferred model is The Situational Leader, by Dr Paul Hersey, Center for Leadership Studies – published by Warner Books in 1984.   In his Foreword, J. William Pfeiffer, Ph.D., J.D., President, University Associates Inc, San Diego, California, states:

• What has long been needed is a system for managing people that is both conceptual and practical.  An easy-to-grasp system with a scope that is broad enough to permit its application to a wide range of situations is essential.  Such a model would promote a precise language in which managers could both understand and act upon the problems they experience in managing their people.  This new approach must build on the existing language of management so that learning it and using it are easily mastered.  Furthermore, this model must have face validity that allows it to be accepted and implemented from the executive suite to the first level of supervision.  The Situational Leadership model, developed by Dr Paul Hersey and his colleagues at the Center for leadership Studies, meets these criteria. 

Innovators are involved with what else, how different, why this, why now, why us.  Innovation styles can include conceptual, logical, technical, inspirational, and/or back-to-the-wall, ie desperation or survival! 

Innovators use the power of thought.  Think of the many thousands of thoughts that come into your mind each day- most of which simply pass on into your subconscious or out into the ether. Thoughts can flow from many sources, including events, observations, conversations, dreams, reading or experiences.   The thoughts that connect with your emotions are those you will keep in your conscious mind to work with in some way. The connecting emotion can be positive, negative, or somewhere in between.

The essential ingredient for creativity is the connection between thought and emotion. There is no more powerful force than this. You can become excited, angry, concerned, interested, confused, desperate, traumatised, fulfilled, exhilarated in an instant response to a thought – what you are experiencing is the triggering of a creative response

Entrepreneurs are involved with management, leadership and innovation.   In their book The Innovation Formula – how organisations turn change into opportunity,  published in 1988 by Ballinger Publishing Company, Michael Robert and Alan Weiss state that entrepreneurs are often viewed as ‘business swashbucklers who catapult new ideas into public prominence while they storm the walls of the establishment’.   However with the benefit and wisdom of 20 years of research, these authors present a very different picture with their descriptive yet prescriptive statement that they found ‘true entrepreneurs aren’t pirates, but disciplined sailors who anticipate the winds and tides of change’.

Disciplined sailors actively demonstrate the qualities of a manager, leader and innovator in demonstrating entrepreneurship.

Jean’s article Understanding the relationship between Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation can be downloaded free of charge from this website.

We know that ‘Management’, ‘Leadership’, ‘Innovation’ and ‘Entrepreneurship’ can be studied separately.  However, in the day-to-day practical challenges associated with any business, they are very closely related – and sometimes so closely related that they are difficult to separate.  

 Jean’s hand-out notes at the Breakfast Meeting are added here:

 The difference – and relationship – between ‘Management’ and ‘Leadership’

 Managers are expected to achieve agreed objectives with and through people, requiring confidence and skill in:

1. time and task management,
2. trialing and refining of ideas,
3. delegating the right tasks to the right people at the right time in the right way,
4. acquiring and allocating adequate, available and appropriate resources,
5. developing clear policies, procedures and work practices that contribute to continuous quality improvement,
6. performance management and monitoring,
7. effective and efficient support, systems and methods, including technology,
8. ensuring clear and open communication, and
9. negotiating on behalf of her/his areas of responsibility.

 ‘Management’ is a combination of:

1. ensuring job satisfaction for the manager’s staff, and
2. meeting the demands of their own role – and those of their staff – in the organisation.

Leaders are expected to demonstrate the ability to inspire others to work together as a team, following her/his lead in order to attain a common objective, involving:

1. interpersonal skills, including listening, questioning, observing, communicating,
2. willingness to learn as well as lead,
3. ability to relate effectively to a variety of behaviours, personalities, contexts and constraints,
4. commitment to building and maintaining relationships,
5. understanding the willingness, ability and commitment of ‘followers’ (you cannot be a leader if others are not prepared or willing to follow your lead), and
6. acceptance of limitations.

‘Leadership’ is a combination of:

1. productivity, and
2. innovation.

The one person can be Manager, Leader – and Innovator:

A common myth about innovation is that innovation is only about new or different ‘things’.   Innovation can also be about improving, changing – or even doing away with – existing ‘things’.

Innovation is a combination of ‘Management’ and ‘Leadership’