How to combine management and leadership in the marketing department

In a difficult economy, companies may begin to retain and promote only their most skilled managers in other words those who possess excellent management skills and exemplify qualities of leadership. Outstanding management skills are important to any marketing manager’s career because if this type of manager is aiming for a higher target, such as a director-level or senior executive role in the marketing department, they may benefit from developing outstanding leadership skills, as well.

Business has given its answer to the leadership question by developing a new breed which is called the manager. At the same time, business has established a new power ethic that favours collective as opposed to individual leadership as well as the cult of the group over that of personality.

While guaranteeing the competence, control as well as the balance of power among groups with the possibility for rivalry, managerial leadership unfortunately does not necessarily ensure imagination, creativity, or ethical behaviour in the process of guiding the purposes of corporate enterprises.

What leadership necessitates

Leadership unavoidably requires making use of power to influence the thoughts as well as actions of other individuals. Power in the hands of a person entails human risks:

• First, the risk of associating power with the ability to get instant results;
• Second, the risk of ignoring the many diverse ways individuals can legitimately accumulate power; and
• Third, the risk of wasting self-control in the want for power.

The need to hedge these risks accounts partly for the development of collective leadership and the managerial ethic.

Manager vs Leader Personality

Managerial

A managerial culture emphasises rationality as well as control. Whether his or her energies are focused on goals, resources, organisation structures, or people, a manager is a person who solves problems. The manager asks the following question: “What problems need to be solved, and what are the best ways to achieve results so that individuals will continue to contribute to this company?”

It takes neither genius nor heroism to be a manager but rather persistence, tough-mindedness, hard work, intelligence, analytical ability and perhaps – most importantly – tolerance and goodwill.

Leadership

Although different leadership styles can be used at different times in an organisation, some character traits are essential for all leaders:

• Self-awareness – Understanding your own strengths as well as weaknesses
• Decisiveness – The ability to quickly make decisions
• Fairness – Treating others in an equal fashion
• Enthusiasm – Motivating a team with an attitude that is positive
• Integrity – Getting the respect of your team
• Knowledge – Keeping abreast of the facts as well as figures
• Creativity and imagination – Come up with new and innovative ideas
• Endurance – Persevering when things don’t go according to plan.

All organisations will include both leaders as well as managers. They can often be the same person. However, there is a noteworthy discrepancy between the two roles:

• A leader can only motivate a team to succeed if there is a management structure in place to make sure tasks are carried out.
• Likewise, a leader who wants to be effective must be careful that they are not spending too much time handling and not enough time leading.
• When management and leadership are put together, they form a unified as well as holistic approach which is known as supervision. In practice, supervision is required to overcome a distinct challenge of sales and marketing in the 21st century.

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