Manager vs. Leader

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properly, leaders tend to spend the majority of their time communicating and aligning with outside groups that can benefit their organizations (partners, community, vendors) or influence them (government, public agencies, media). See FIGURE 2-1. There is crossover between leaders and managers across the various areas, though a distinction remains for certain duties and responsibilities.

FIGURE 2-1 Leadership and Management Focus

Usually the top person in the organization (e.g., Chief Executive Officer, Administrator, Director) has full and ultimate accountability. This type of leader may be

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dictated by the current conditions faced by the organization. A more strategic leader, who defines purpose and vision and aligns people, processes, and values, may be needed. Or, a network leader, who could connect people across disciplines, organizational departments, and regions, may be essential. Whichever type surfaces, there will be several managers reporting to this person, all of whom have various functional responsibilities for different areas of the organization (e.g., Chief Nursing Executive, Physician Director, Chief Experience Officer). These managers can certainly be leaders in their own areas, but their focus will be more internal within the organization’s operations. They are the operational leaders of the organization. Together, these three types of leaders/followers produce an interdependent leadership system, a team which will prove more high performing in the current health care field (Maccoby, Norman, Norman, & Margolies, 2013).

Leaders have a particular set of competencies that require more forward thinking than those of managers. Leaders need to establish a mission and set a vision or direction for the organization. They need to be able to motivate their employees, as well as other stakeholders, so the business continues to exist and, hopefully, thrive in periods of change. No industry is as dynamic as health care, with rapid change occurring due to the complexity of the

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