Unfortunately, it is more difficult for a manager to develop leadership skills than vice versa.
“They think they have found a leadership gene, so at least some of your leadership capabilities are inherent in your DNA,” Dwyer says.
“But if we are talking about a manager becoming a leader, usually the best way to learn anything is on the job learning.”
He recommends putting yourself into a position to lead a project so you can find your abilities and work out what works and what doesn’t. This will also enable you to work out what sort of leader you are.
“There are three real kinds of leadership styles and each person favours a different one,” says Dwyer.
According to Dwyer, the first type of leader leads from the front by setting a strong example and those leaders need to be very visible. Then there are leaders that lead from the back and work hard to help everyone understand what the goals are.
Finally, Dwyer says there are collegiate leaders who spend a lot of time seeking agreement from stakeholders and they spend a lot of time gaining consensus.
“This can be management by committee but a true leader does not hand over responsibility,” he says.
Dwyer says developing leadership capabilities may require some serious change.
“Growing into a managing role is about really getting your head down and doing the work but growing into a leadership role is changing your personality sometimes,” he says.
Ackerly has some practical tips for how to become a better leader and is adamant that leadership can be taught and worked on.
She recommends putting a structure in place so you can develop your team and lead within, so having a 12-month period with measurable outcomes might be ideal.
“To develop your leadership style it is about putting heart, soul or passion into the job. You do this by asking the staff to question and challenge the way we do things and reflect on what is right and what is wrong; ask the staff to take a risk so we can get better at doing things,” she says.
“Look for a low area of risk in terms of your leadership-building capabilities like friends or a small project team and ask the question but don’t provide the answer.”
Ackerly says management is about providing the answer; leadership is about getting the answer, and preferably, a better answer out of your team.
“The challenge for a SME is to develop leadership in all their staff so that in every area of their business staff can grow and do that questioning for every factor of the business,” she says.
If working on your leadership style sounds all too hard, take inspiration from Garrard, who says leadership rather than just management is essential for growing businesses.
“It is important when you are in a fast-growth business to understand what leading means, leading is important for growth while management is more for staid and passive business,” she says.
“It is about the vision: explaining where you are going, why you are getting there, what the value is of the business and always encouraging the team to think what is next and how can we improve further to keep our first-mover advantage or our move on our competitors.”
Garrard has tried to train her management team at E3 Style to be able to sell the vision for the business as well as manage and says she has tried to focus her own role on leading.
“I understand my value to the business is to lead it rather than to manage it and make sure I am not micro managing, you need to recognise what your strengths are and your weaknesses are and get people on board to support where those weaknesses are,” she says.
Cara Waters is a former SmartCompany editor. Previously, Cara was a senior reporter for the Financial Times’ website and worked for The Sunday Times in London.
