Leadership and management are not the same. Unfortunately pastoral ministry usually requires both skill sets. Not all pastors can pull it off.
Leadership — and I’m not going to throw in formal definitions — might be described as moving people from where they are to where they need to be, whether they know it or not, and whether they think they are ready or not.
Leaders motivate, affirm and nudge others forward. Leaders inspire people to reach higher, stretch farther and go above and beyond. Leaders set positive examples, lead others into battle and make the hard, decisive calls under pressure. Leaders assume the blame when things go wrong and give the credit to others when things go right. Leaders praise publicly and correct privately. Leaders are visionary, seeing the potential and the future possibilities instead of the present reality. Leaders naturally gather around themselves followers… in church leadership we might call them disciples. Leaders are lifelong learners who never think they know it all, therefore they are inquisitive and are not afraid to say, “I don’t know,” or, “I’m not sure.” Leaders are readers; voracious readers of all kinds of material. Leaders do not simply immerse themselves in reading that validates their presuppositions; they intentionally seek out ideas that challenge them and make them think. I have studied leadership for the past five years, even earning an advanced degree in it, and, someday, I hope to become a great leader.
Managers? They manage. Not that managing is a bad thing. It is quite a GOOD thing actually, and a necessary thing. Somebody needs to watch the budget, hire and fire staff, see that the bills get paid on time and negotiate the business requirements of the organization. Someone needs to put out the fires, sign the checks and schedule meetings.
The problem for most pastors is that those two skill sets often collide headlong.
The leader wants to cast big vision, stretch the faith of his or her disciples and the manager needs to know who will pay for it, who will mange the resources and where do we post the pert chart? The leader is operating as if growth has been achieved, goals have been met and the future is now, while the manager is trying to get a volunteer to set up chairs for a meeting. Managers have IN-boxes, appointment calendars and files… lots of files. Leaders often manage by wandering around and may have piles instead of files. Leaders tend to be right-brained, creative and intuitive, while managers tend to be left-brained, analytical and grounded in reality.
Sometimes there is a rare individual who is both a leader and a manager. I’d like to meet one.