Many make the mistake of believing that marketing leadership and management are interchangeable terms. While there may be some overlap in the broad functions of both jobs, there are distinct differences between the two positions. Expecting one to perform the tasks of both management and leadership could leave all involved feeling frustrated and shortchanged.
By realizing the differences between the two, companies can select and hire the right people for both positions—or allow leadership to choose their own marketing managerial staff for best results. So, how can you be certain you’ve chosen a leader and not a manager? Let’s consider the differences.
As They Apply to the Vision
Your company’s mission, vision, and goals should be important to your leaders and your managers. However, the marketing leader should be part of helping to develop and define the mission and vision. Even more importantly, marketing leadership should help ensure that the vision, mission, and goals are all aligned with the overall brand. This helps to avoid confusion among employees and customers.
Managers ensure that they understand the vision, mission, and goals that leadership has developed and then keep employees aligned through their daily work. Communication at all points is crucial, first from leadership to management and then management to employees.
As They Apply to Ideas
This is perhaps the hardest difference for many to grasp, particularly those who have entered a marketing leadership role for the first time. After years in a managerial position, switching gears can be difficult. Some leaders, however, have always been idea people. This means that leadership focuses on new ideas, driving innovation, and thinking ahead by several steps in order to drive change and growth. That often doesn’t leave much time for the execution of these ideas.
That’s where management comes in. Solid marketing managers can take the ideas from leadership and develop tasks based on the desired outcome. Those tasks are then delegated, tested, and tweaked for the best possible outcomes. Managers have a difficult balancing act between developing new processes and increasing productivity within the processes that are proven to work.
To put a finer point on it, leadership is what should be done. Management is how it gets done.
As They Apply to Culture
As a leader within the organization, marketing executives are also responsible for helping to develop the values and beliefs that shape the culture of the company. This covers not just how the work gets done, but also how the stakeholders and employees interact and behave. Company culture is important for the achievement of business goals, yes, but it’s also crucial to the overall brand—and that’s something marketing leadership must always keep in focus.
Leaders define the culture, and managers then uphold that culture with their own behavior and while guiding the behavior of their direct reports. Constant collaboration between leadership and management is important to make sure the culture remains consistent. Communication between the two can weed out any problems the moment they occur before they can lead to rot within the organization.
As They Apply to Success
By this point, you have a handle on the differences between leaders and managers. When it comes to the success of the company, the truth is that both are crucial. Here’s the main difference, at least in theory: leaders inspire success and managers drive it.
All of the above factors are necessary for each to do their part. A solid vision and mission, great culture, and innovative ideas will inspire employees to reach for success. A manager who keeps those things in alignment will continue driving those employees over the finish line time and again.
With the right marketing leaders and managers in place, your company is poised for success. There’s just one more thing you may need to consider: Can you afford these crucial team members? And if not, how can you benefit from leaders and managers if you don’t have them on staff full time?
The answer here is a Fractional CMO. With just a fraction of the cost, a Fractional CMO can fill that leadership role in your marketing team and either help you hire management or bring their own team along to drive your success. If you’d like to learn how this is possible, give us a call.
