Leadership is about change. Burdened by something that must be transformed, leaders are grabbed by a vision for a future that is different from the current reality. While those who are in leadership roles must also manage people, resources, and processes, there are some fundamental differences between a leadership posture and a management posture. The overarching difference is really about change.
A leadership posture is bent toward creating change. It is challenging to get leaders to live in today as their minds are always set on the next opportunity or the next barrier that must be removed. One of the reasons leaders are often dissatisfied when their goals are achieved is because they are already living in the future with new vision and new goals. And leaders can’t help themselves. Even when they tell themselves it is time to settle for a season, they grow increasingly uncomfortable with the way things are. They ask, “What if we do this?” or “What if we thought differently about this?” They are willing to take risks for the good of those they serve.
A management posture cultivates order, and effective managers are able to pull order out of chaos with wise financial planning, savvy use of time, and skillfully implemented systems that ensure people are served well. Contrasting leadership and management has sometimes been used to elevate leadership and demean management, but we need effective management. I am thankful that the city manager where I live cares about the status quo of our stoplights, executes the trash pick-up in our neighborhood, cultivates order with our public servants, and asks how road construction will impact traffic flows. “Down with management” is a bad take.
More than being different people, as in one person is a leader and another person is a manager, leadership and management are different postures. Yes, we are likely to be more naturally and even supernaturally gifted toward one posture over another, but leaders must adopt both postures at different times. Deeply embedded in the posture of leading is change. If you are never leading change, you are living exclusively with a management posture.
A changed life is always the fruit of being a follower of Jesus. And change is often the fruit of a leader. Christian leaders have an unfair advantage when it comes to leading change or transformation. Christians understand transformation because we’ve been transformed from death to life and are being transformed as we follow our Savior. We know that lasting change is often slow and comes through painful seasons of growth, but it impacts what we believe and how we live. Deeply embedded in the posture of being a Christian is change. We have been changed, and we are being changed. When we received Jesus, we were born again. We became a new creation; our old lives were buried, and we were given a new life. He does not merely tweak our behavior; He transforms our character.
Taken from a chapter on transformation in my new book The Rooted Leader.
