Are you a Manager or a Leader?

What would your team say – are you a Manager or a Leader?

What’s the difference between management and leadership?
How would you say they differ in terms of:
• Power
• Focus
• Risk profile?

This is an age-old question, and one that I have been asked many times, and one that I believe can be answered in several different ways. The main difference between a manager and a leader is how they motivate the people around them.

Do you have to be one or the other? Most of us fulfill both roles, moving from manager to leader when we realize we have to win the hearts and minds of those we want to follow us.

• Managers have subordinates As a line manager you command a certain amount of respect from those who report to you, and you tell them what to do. They do what they are instructed (usually!), because they receive their salary for doing so.
• Manager’s focus As a manager you get paid to make things happen, usually to budget and to deadlines. The actual tasks are usually delegated.
• Managers and risk As a manager you are expected to follow the company’s policies and procedures, without making any substantial changes. Generally this is comfortable for you, as it gives a structure to your role.

• Leaders have followers When you are a leader you don’t have direct reports (although you may still have them in your management role). When you want to lead, you are seeking followers, who follow you because they choose to, not because they are paid to.
• Leader’s focus Telling people what to do does not inspire them to follow you. You need to find out what drives them and show how following you will satisfy their needs. This could be a need for recognition, status, reward, a feeling of ‘giving back’ – as leader you need to know what it is. As a leader you always give credit where it’s due, and avoid blaming others when things go wrong.As a leader you will certainly demonstrate charisma, but this doesn’t mean you have to be friends with everyone, or even be liked by them. Some of the most effective leaders are often seen as ‘loners’.
• Leaders and risk As a leader you expect to face issues and problems, which need to be overcome. You are happy to take measured risks, and follow ‘the path less trodden’, to achieve your vision. People admire your courage – it’s important this is not seen by others as ‘bravado’.

In facilities management, a manager:
• Understands the contract requirements and business plan
• Is confident, a good listener, asks questions, is innovative
• Makes decisions according to the rules
• Customer- and service-focused – gets results by managing tasks
• Meets deadlines, and is focused on short-term results
• Is generally reactive
• Ensures staff understand their responsibilities
• Provides clear guidance to staff – tells them what to do
• Communicates effectively with teams
• Provides regular constructive feedback
• Encourages staff to improve their performance
• Addresses performance issues
• Encourages staff to offer ideas to improve performance

In facilities management, a leader:
• Is consistent in their own style, yet welcomes change and challenges the status quo
• Comes up with new, often radical, ideas
• Breaks the rules
• Generate new ideas and build a vision
• Focuses on long terms results
• Exploits their own strengths, and those of others
• Is aware of their own, and others’ weaknesses
• Pushes people to do and be the best they can
• Speaks in positive terms

So, where do you stand? For a no obligation 30 minute telephone session to identify your leadership strengths and how you can be even more effective, call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 / 07717 787077 or coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Keeping FM at the Heart of the Organisation – Your 5 Step Plan

Are you tired of your FM team simply being seen as the people who get the call when things go wrong? As their manager, you might actually be OK with that – after all, FM is a reactive business isn’t it? You might see it that way, but what about your team – your staff, service providers and so on?

Here is an easy to use 5 step plan to raise the profile of FM within your organisation

1. Know what the strategy of the organisation is. What are this year’s key business objectives? Who is responsible for each? How are they being measured?

If you were the CEO or MD – what would you be focusing on?
Keeping costs under control? Keeping existing clients satisfied? Growing the business – winning new clients, growing organically? Meeting legislation and other requirements?

From their perspective, what are the stresses, the pressures, the goals, and the demands?

Demonstrating a clear understanding of the strategic focus of the organization will help others to perceive you as a leader and team player.

Once you have a clear sense of this, you are then better able to make decisions, tailor your communications, and make contributions that will enable others to perceive you and your team as invaluable to the running of the business.
Share these objectives with the whole team, so that even suppliers know how they are contributing to the overall performance of the company.

2. What specifically can you and your team do to help the organisation achieve these objectives?

Providing details of the return on investment (ROI) that the company gets from its FM spend – you will no doubt already be reporting on many areas through your management information (MI) system. Apart from your boss, who else gets to see these reports? Why not start displaying the information on notice boards so everyone can see?

What else can you and your team do? For example, if you run the front of house area, what else can you do to make visitors feel welcome (especially existing and potential clients)? Could you greet them by name? Even a simple ‘nice to see you here again Mrs Kentish, how was your journey down from Leeds this morning?’ makes a visitor feel important, as if you really care about them.

Can you set up short lunchtime seminars for the company on topics that are of key importance such as new legislation or new ways of working – but ensure they are fun and interactive so people enjoy them and come back for more.

Wouldn’t it be great for the FM team to be seen not only as the experts, but as the people who deliver training seminars that are fun?!

3. Who are the most influential people in your organisation – it may not always be the most senior people – who are the people that others seem to listen to?

Where do they go when they’re not at their desks or in meetings? What’s uppermost in their minds right now? What can you do to help them? Show people the value of what you do and they will remember and talk to others about it. You already know that your team is indispensable, but does everyone else in the company?
Get these people on your side and they will tell the rest of the business.

4. Recognise your own people, even if others don’t.

When people in your team perform particularly well, make a fuss. You can set up an awards scheme to nominate ‘supplier of the month’, ‘employee of the quarter’, or whatever else you feel will work in your company. Ask your ‘end users’ to vote and make it easy for them – a tick box on a postcard or a token to put into a box at lunchtime for example.

Many studies have shown that you don’t need to give a financial award, a simple thank you in public is what people want.

Don't however measure and reward pointless things that have nothing whatever to do with the success of your company and execution of your company's strategic plan.

5. Blow your own trumpet.

Record and publicise your team’s accomplishments, and inquire about other ways you can contribute to overall team goals. Be assertive about the FM teams’ capabilities and ask for projects that will stretch your current abilities. Be clear about the support you seek from the company, and be equally clear about the deliverables you will produce.