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Are You a Ministry Leader or Manager?

There has been this on-going argument of Leaders vs. Managers and which category people fall into.  After reading countless books and being in a number of leadership roles in the non-profit, corporate, political, and ministry sectors, I have definitely witnessed the difference between the two.

In its simplest form, Leaders Develop Followers and Managers Manage People and Things. Leaders don’t have subordinates because they are in the business of developing followers and developing other leaders. Managers have subordinates, because with managers, it’s all about positional equity and telling “Subordinate Joe or Subordinate Sally” to go make these widgets and make them this way.

A leader, on the other hand, is not worried about positional equity or formal authority because they are in the business of creating followers and developing more leaders. Following is a voluntary action, and often times, managers don’t realize this.  The challenge for most managers is they confuse their management with leadership.  A great self-assessment question to determine whether you are leading or managing is this:

If my position, title, role, and formal authority were removed, would the people that I’m leading gladly follow me?  If you can’t answer that question, ask those closest to you to give you a candid answer.

Managers tell their subordinates what to do, while leaders develop followers and develop leaders.  A manager points and says, “Go!” and a leader points and says, “Let’s Go!”

What do you think?  Share your thoughts on this post and/or your experiences with the difference between managers and leaders.

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scottwilliams2@churchleaders.com'
Scott Williams served as a key leader and Campus Pastor for LifeChurch.tv. He is the Chief Solutions Officer for Nxt Level Solutions, a consulting company he founded to help businesses, non-profits and individuals with both internal and external growth. Scott is speaker, strategist, consultant and developer of leaders. He is an avid blogger at BigIsTheNewSmall.com, and leverages Social Media to make a Kingdom impact. Scott is passionate about leadership development, organizational growth and diversity. He is the author of “Church Diversity – Sunday The Most Segregated Day Of The Week.” Scott is married, a father of two, and lives in Oklahoma City, OK.