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Guest post by: Sue Lindgren Hawkes Become an Author

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Managing, leading and coaching; interesting trio, eh? Many people and organizations collapse these competencies and titles. It often seems that these competencies and titles are both synonymous and interchangeable in our quest for excellence. But they’re not.

How can we be sure these competencies are distinct? Let me illustrate. Have you ever had a manager that wasn’t very good at leading? Have you ever worked with a leader who wasn’t very good at managing? And what about coaching? Could you manage or lead and not coach? Possibly, but you won’t be very successful.

Most consultants, coaches and business people who develop others and work in teams use all three terms. The public is not yet educated in the distinction that coaching as a profession is, let alone the competencies and practices that a professional coach masters. I find it interesting to note that a majority of people working as coaches have never been educated in coaching, and the public isn’t educated to ask - yet. Many people calling themselves a “coach” have simply added the title “coach” in response to the trend. These are professionals who coach (or think they do), not educated coaching professionals. As the coaching profession continues to emerge, so will the distinctions, competencies and practices of the professional coach as manger, leader or external partner.

So we know managing, leading and coaching are related, yet distinct. And too often these distinctions become collapsed in our rush to do more with less, attain results in an “instant” manner and short cut the process of developing people through learning. We think we’re accomplishing more by offering “drive-through” solutions, but are we? Are the solutions sustainable?

One book that addresses this is The One Thing You Need to Know by Marcus Buckingham. In his book, he illustrates what he believes are the key distinctions for extraordinary managers and leaders:
 Both leadership and management are important, but not interchangeable – they are completely different.
 Not everyone within the organization is to be a leader.
 Natural talents are required for great leaders – same for great managers – you can improve, but if you lack a few core talents, you can’t succeed at either.
 Coaching is an imperative competency for anyone working within a leadership or management role.

Some distinctions between great managers and great leaders:
Great Managers:
 The starting point is each employee’s talents – they can transform each employee’s talents into performance.
 Have you believe that your success is their primary goal – emotionally not rationally.
 Change the role or tweak it to have the employee succeed - a natural coach.
Great Leaders:
 Talents are optimism and ego.
 believe that despite the odds they have what it takes to overcome the odds.
 Rally people toward a better future.
 Are restless for change, impatient for progress, deeply dissatisfied with the status quo and the friction between what is and could be stirs them.

In summary, great managers see people as means to an end, in and of themselves; great leaders see people as a means to a performance end. If you want to manage, begin with the person, if you want to lead, begin with the picture of where you’re headed.

I have found that in terms of excellence and sustainable performance, you need all three competencies. Imagine two overlapping circles - one circle labeled "coaching" and the other circle labeled "management". Now, imagine another circle that encompasses both of these (wrapped around them.) This is because coaching is the context in which the other competencies occur. And if you were to draw this out, you would see that there’s an overlap in the center – this is where excellence occurs. The only way excellence becomes sustainable is with the presence of all three competencies.

In terms of excellence, mastery of these three distinctions and the practices within each distinct competence become necessary – and that is where teams come in. No one is masterful at all three.

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