Achieving executive balance: Nine ways leaders and managers work together

Although it's not apparent in the structure of some organizations, leaders and managers have highly distinct roles, and both are essential to the success of the business. See if the traits described here fit your IT leaders and managers--or help clarify your own role.

Leadership and management may sometimes seem to be at crosspurposes, with vision and inspiration on one side and measurement and control on the other. But as IT pro Shannon Kalvar observes, the roles are both essential and complementary. He cites a number of key dynamics, such as:

Leaders rally, managers retrench: When things go wrong, leaders gather their team together, reestablish the vision, inspire the group, and then go out to protect them while they deal with the situation. Leaders stand up, do what's right, and accept the consequences of their team's actions as their own. The team continues to work and react in the background.

When things go wrong, managers gather their team together, identify the exact problem, create a plan to address it, assign tasks, and dispatch the team with strict instructions. Assuming the initial analysis identified the problem and no other problems arise, the team will quickly resolve the issue and then return to normal operation.This download is also available as an article. Join the discussion and share your suggestions and opinions.