Manager vs. Leader (Know the difference for your MBA Application Essay)

When Harvard Business School started the first MBA program in 1908, Frederick Winslow Taylor’s Theory on Scientific Management was finding fame with the four-step principles in General Management:
 
• Converting Information to Rules for completing tasks
• Using a scientific approach to train workers
• Monitoring workers to follow the scientific approach
• Dividing the works of Managers and Workers so that Managers plan and workers perform the tasks.

Modern Management practitioners might cringe at the use of the word ‘Worker’ and would find it impossible to follow a simple four-step process.

MBAs now are more than a person who manages ‘workers’. They should be specialists, generalists and most importantly a master persuader to direct the team towards project/company goals. That is how leadership has taken precedence in MBA lexicon. Unfortunately, students tend to exaggerate their managerial roles as leadership initiative, and quite often the admission team assumes the transgression as an exaggeration.

We can’t blame the applicants.

Schools hardly mention the difference between leadership and Managerial roles when they give guidelines for writing an essay.

Manager vs. Leader (Know the difference for your MBA Application Essay)

There is a thin line between a Manager and a Leader. As a leader, you are expected to have worked with more than one person, persuaded them to follow your suggestions and impact the team in a positive way.

When you write about success and offer context, understanding the difference between a Manager and a Leader is paramount.

1) Managers Micromanage Leaders Stay Away

A traditional Manager is someone who asks for the status of a task every 15 minutes. Newly promoted professionals might assume that it is productive to keep the team on their foot, but their inexperience shines through when the team’s productivity dips. There is nothing wrong in writing about how you successfully navigated a tight schedule but any hint that you micromanaged the tasks will naturally cross you over from a leader to a Manager. Always remember – top MBA programs are looking for passionate leaders or candidates with leadership potential.

2) Leaders Persuade; Managers Order

Another inherent characteristic of a leader is their ability to persuade, not through some sophisticated techniques but by finding common grounds and listening empathetically to each team member. Most leaders are good at brainstorming, and guiding the team when they are stuck at crucial junctures of a project delivery. A leader should earn the respect of the team before persuading. She should be willing to listen to the team's fears and insecurities from a career and growth perspective. If the conversation is all about project delivery, the team will quickly categorize you as a Manager. You will have little influence over the team. Business Schools want to learn how you persuade. Even if you followed an unconventional method, share it with the admission team. They are looking to learn something new from your essay.

3) Managers Monitors; Leaders Inspire

Managers are good at monitoring the task, and following it up with the team. Leaders don’t look at tasks in isolation. They are involved, and in cases where the team needs guidance, the leader does not hesitate to take the ownership of a few sub-tasks. Autonomy during initial stages of the project, when the problems are poorly defined, is not ideal, and if the team lacks experience, they are looking for the expertise of the leader. A Manager goes by one rule – autonomy and constant monitoring while leaders understand that a one-rule system does not work for everyone in the team. Stating examples of two personality types in your team, whom you inspired would be an ideal narrative for essays about leadership. Explain how you addressed their insecurities.

4) Leaders Mentor; Managers Facilitate

Leaders make sure that the interaction with the team is not a one-off show for the project. They value personal relationship. When one of the team members escalates a problem in the project, the leader takes partial ownership of the task. A Manager has the least skin in the game and looks for experts in the team to take ownership. What happens during such facilitation is that experts are not obliged to follow through, and the escalated problems soon become the reason for project delays and poor team performance. Leaders also understand that the team members with lower experience will grow as a professional when the project concludes. For the leader, the learning goals are equally important, and he encourages the team member to take extra functional and technical training. The initiative shows how you evaluate the team’s strengths and weaknesses – a critical skill as a leader.

5) Managers Define Roles; Leaders Take Complete Responsibility

During the initial phase of the project, Managers define roles, and each professional is expected to focus on the tasks assigned. The team member takes the ownership in case of any failure. Leaders take complete ownership of the team’s failure even if the team member is at fault. The leader’s pro-active problem solving ensures that the team member who is behind the schedule is not left out as an outlier. With the leader creating a protective shield for the team, the environment is ripe for innovation. Explain how you encouraged the team to come up with an innovative solution. What process did you follow? How did you mitigate the risk of failure?