How Do You Demonstrate Leadership To Your Team?

How do you demonstrate leadership to your team? We often hear the debate about leadership versus management. However, the reality is that you need both. In this blog, we’re going to discuss what leadership is, why management remains important, and how you can use both to uplift your team. So, stay with us as we dive into the core of leadership and management.

Leadership vs. Management: Why Both Are Essential

There’s a common misconception that leadership is good while management is less desirable. People might say, “We need leaders, not managers,” or “Managers are just there to micromanage.” The truth is, neither leadership nor management can work alone. Both are essential for team success. A powerful concept I learned from Lauren Outwell at Petticoat Smith, which he adopted from the EOS system by Gino Wickman, is this: LMA—Leadership + Management = Accountability. This equation perfectly illustrates why you need both leadership and management to hold people accountable. Leadership is about making people better so that, in your absence, they can thrive. On the other hand, management ensures that processes, systems, and resources are properly handled. You need managers to oversee these operational elements. The balance between leadership and management is critical for creating an accountable and high-performing team.

How Leadership and Management Work Together

When you lead, you elevate your people. Leadership is about building, not using people. In contrast, management is essential for running processes, systems, and structures. The key to success is aligning leadership with management to ensure that your team has the resources, guidance, and motivation to succeed. If you don’t lead your people while managing the necessary systems and resources, accountability becomes impossible. You cannot hold someone accountable if you haven’t provided them with clear direction, the right resources, or the motivation to meet expectations. Remember: Leadership + Management = Accountability.

The Skills of a Good Leader

One of the most important skills of a good leader is listening. It may sound cliché, but research consistently shows that effective leadership starts with listening and caring. Classical management often disconnects leaders from the people on the ground, leading to communication gaps and misaligned goals. Good leaders listen to their teams, invest in their success, and make decisions that support their growth.

Setting High Expectations Without Undermining Your Team

Expecting great things from your team is essential, but you must also resource them properly. High expectations combined with poor treatment won’t make you a good leader—it’ll just make you a demanding boss. To truly inspire your team, provide them with training, support, connection, and a strong culture. As a leader, you should focus on creating psychological safety, fostering innovation, and setting collaborative goals. Motivating your team, leading transformations, and helping people develop their careers are just as important as managing processes and resources.

Key Management Tasks

While leadership is crucial for motivating and inspiring, management handles essential operational tasks such as performance oversight, risk management, compliance, and resource allocation. Managing change, ensuring health and safety, and solving problems are all part of management’s role in supporting the team.

Accountability and Support

You cannot expect accountability without offering both leadership and management. Think of it this way: could you hold someone accountable if they lacked the tools, resources, motivation, and leadership to succeed? No. You need to provide both leadership and management for accountability to exist. Throughout my career, I’ve realized the importance of assessing my own leadership and management efforts before pointing fingers at others. Often, a failure to lead or manage effectively lies at the root of team shortcomings. It’s crucial to reflect on your role and ask, “Have I provided the clarity and support my team needs?”

A Final Analogy: The Elephant, the Rider, and the Path

In the book Switch, the authors use an analogy to explain leadership and management: the elephant, the rider, and the path. The rider represents leadership, steering and guiding the elephant (your team), while the path represents the circumstances and resources provided by management. To move forward, you need all three—the leader must direct, the team must be motivated, and the resources must be in place.

Conclusion: Embrace Both Leadership and Management

To become a truly effective leader or manager, you need to balance both roles. Inspire and build your people, but also provide the support structures they need. Only then can you hold them accountable and achieve great results as a team.