Management vs. Leadership

In most businesses there are managers and there are leaders. The managers aren't necessarily leaders and the leaders aren't necessarily managers. There are people qualified to be managers and there are people qualified to be leaders.

In my previous work experience, I was in a management position a few times before. Throughout this blog I will refer to some of those experiences as an example for the topic. Unfortunately, this position I am referring to is a manager at McDonald's. I am not proud to say that I ever worked there, but I will be able to effectivly show what not to do.

McDonald's has many managers. There are few, if any, leaders at McDonald's. I was a manager-in-training as well as a first level manager. The only difference I saw between a first level manager and a crew memeber is that the standards were much higher and you were yelled at a lot more for mistakes, or sometimes for something you had nothing to do with. Having learned a few things about management, I see that this is no way to run a business successfully at all. And you wonder why the owner is asking what's wrong with his company. There is no good leadership in that company.

Now I understand that McDonald's is one of those jobs you have as your "first job" and the standards shouldn't have to be that high. But for the level of expectation put next to the level of skill there's a huge gap that cannot be filled unless there's something done about it.

In a business, managers are the authority and the enforcers of the rules and policies. A leader, whether they be a manager or not, is the person that others follow and motivate everyone else and help achieve a goal that will improve the overall team. Yes, McDonald's has many managers, but few leaders.

Can you tell there's something missing?