Leader vs. Manager
Explain, with concrete examples, the differences among leadership, management, and followership. Then, discuss the following:
At times, do the examples overlap with a nurse acting in all three capacities at the same time?
Are two of the three capacities more likely to overlap? If yes, which two capacities?
Pick a current local, state, or national political leader and differentiate the leadership and management qualities of the leader. Who are these leaders and followers?
Sample Solution
Leadership, management, and followership are the key roles that help create a successful team and organization. Leadership involves inspiring people to work towards a common goal or vision. It is about setting direction and inspiring others through motivation, engagement, communication and collaboration. Management is more focused on the day-to-day operations of an organization or team. The manager is responsible for making sure processes are in place to ensure efficiency and productivity of employees. Finally,
followership is about actively supporting the leader's decisions, ideas, values and plans by taking initiative when appropriate and providing valuable input into decision-making processes.
At times a nurse may need to act in all three capacities at once depending on the situation they find themselves in within their professional environment; however it is more often that these capacities overlap with two categories being most likely – leadership & management or leadership & followership. For example a nurse may be required to lead their unit while also managing resources; or alternatively they may be required to follow orders from senior colleagues while also leading initiatives around patient care or change management initiatives.
For example we can look at current political leaders such as Joe Biden (President of the United States). As President he must lead his administration by creating policy visions which inspire citizens across America but also manage his cabinet’s daily activities by delegating tasks appropriately among his staff members. This requires him to have strong leadership qualities such as influencing people positively while having good delegation skills so his Cabinet can efficiently implement policies as well as having strong interpersonal skills for effective communication between himself and various stakeholders like Congressmen/women etc . Followers of Joe Biden’s presidency would include not only those who voted for him but also those who opposed him yet still support some aspects of his agenda – this could include medical professionals such as nurses who might agree with certain healthcare reforms despite disagreeing with other parts of Biden’s presidency overall .
Therefore although leadership , management & followership are distinct categories there will always be overlapping situations where each role needs to come together in order for things to run effectively , especially when it comes to nursing careers due its diverse range of responsibilities .