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Guest post by: Peter J Karlsson Become an Author

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There are many management and leadership styles and personalities described in writing and even more practiced every day around the world. To find our own management style is important since people will only follow and trust a person leading from his true personality. Managers pretending to be something they are not, end up pushing their employees instead of being followed. The word leadership is today confused and is commonly used to describe all levels of managerial duties. Maybe this is good. When setting a development program in place in your company it is important to distinguish levels clearly to be able to see what is really needed for different functions. I typically see four function levels in a company: • Employee

• Supervisor (incl. team leader, project manager)

• Manager

• Company Leader

A great company leader usually has had success at all stages of the functions above before becoming a successful leader. Logically this means that all the functions build upon each other to some extent when climbing the corporate ladder. Our naturally preferred behaviors and education will make us more suitable to develop ourselves on one specific level. It is important to realize that one does not necessarily need to become a manager or a company leader to have a successful work career. The alternative career choice is to become a specialist or authority in ones field or industry. Becoming a leader in the current position.

To be successful as a specialist or as an employee it is important to master all things related to personal achievement. Except industry specific skills and knowledge this includes time management - goal setting, communication, self awareness and presentation skills. In addition supervisory and project management functions need an understanding of team dynamics, coaching skills and effective enforcing skills. The ability to duplicate excellent results by teaching and guiding others becomes crucial.

Two differences when moving into a management function are that the responsibilities evolve from handling oneself, time and money to managing and being responsible for other people's careers and the unit's business results. This means setting salaries and taking care of personal development plans as well as the unit's long term development in terms of doing business. Therefore people management skills and a high level of self awareness are needed in the management function in combination with a holistic understanding of the industry and the challenges of managing a business.

Company leaders manage the managers in the company. All positions above may hold a leader. A leader inspires the people around them. What differentiates the company leader function from the management, supervisory or specialist function is the focus and authorities. A leader without a vision will not be followed; simply because he does not know where he is going himself. When all functions are inspired and motivated by the company leaders' vision in a company, then great and extraordinary things can happen. To achieve good performance and a functioning company, good management skills are enough. To create extraordinary results and long-term high performance a clear vision, faith and having leaders in all positions are important.

A company can successfully train staff to become good company managers and specialists. Some will develop into and become great company leaders in time. Inspiring employees and managers to take the last step from being a high performer into becoming a leader cannot be trained - only facilitated. Therefore a company needs to develop and inspire their employees and managers continuously to prepare for growth and succession planning. By growing company managers, company leaders will emerge...

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