Management and leadership are two different concepts and not all managers make good leaders.  It is important to know the difference between the two so your business runs smoothly and you don’t make costly promotion mistakes.

The challenge for some organizations is that they often place managers in leadership positions when they are not ready or not able to lead.  When this happens, there can be a slow down in business and a need for a reorganization.  Worse still if the manager has no leadership skill, they can be difficult to work with, and are unable to see the big picture and handle uncertainty.

Growing from a manager to a leader means developing both hard and soft skills.  It’s not just about expanding your knowledge of business processes and systems.  Basic leadership soft skills include understanding motivation and coping with uncertainty.

It’s not about leaders being born or made, great leaders are the one who continually developed themselves, and we’re not just talking hard skills.  It’s this continuous investment that pays dividends.  In 99% of cases the rate limiting factor to someones ability to perform lies within themselves.  Great leaders just happen to work harder at reducing these limiting factors.

To paraphrase the Learning and Skills council – “Your future is in your hands.”