Leadership and management are not the same thing. They are distinct but overlapping fields, both essential for the success of any organization.
As the Wall Street Journal puts it, the leader’s job is to inspire and motivate; the manager’s, to plan, organize and coordinate.
Management is about the day-to-day tasks that keep an organization working: planning, budgeting, staffing and more.
From the Faith & Leadership archives, here are resources for those who manage Christian institutions.
Human resources/talent management
James Dubik: Your job is to develop people
In the Army, every senior officer is expected to train people two levels below and to know the mindset of those two levels above, says a retired general and Catholic lay leader.
Holly J. Burkhalter: Everyone is part of the mission
The human rights organization International Justice Mission is effective in part because everyone working there understands their role in the Christian institution’s mission, says a senior leader.
A scientist’s advice on managing a team
Managing a laboratory was one part of his job that Duke University biology professor Mohamed Noor wasn’t taught in graduate school. But he hopes to share what he has learned about management to help others.
Jan Love: How do we transform the communities in which we live?
Good managers are good at transforming conflicts, says the dean of Emory University’s Candler School of Theology.
George Anders: There’s a lot more talent out there
What’s the secret to hiring the right people for your organization? Character, says the author of “The Rare Find.”
Matt Bloom: Flourishing in ministry
Pastoral ministry is hard and challenging, but God wants clergy -- and everyone -- to experience meaning in work, says a management professor who studies wellbeing and work.
Feedback and performance reviews
Charles Hambrick-Stowe: Is there a Christian way to do performance reviews?
How should performance reviews in churches and other Christian organizations differ from those in the corporate or academic worlds?
What to do when an employee doesn’t accomplish a goal
How should a manager respond to an employee’s unaccomplished goal?
If you want to change, invite feedback and really listen to it
Though it doesn’t necessarily feel this way, honest feedback is always a gift that deserves our attention, our time and our vulnerability.
Three questions to spark helpful feedback
Another important and underutilized management practice is soliciting feedback.
Communication
Diane M. Millis: Silence and the art of conversation
Some of the most essential practices for genuine conversation include not only the words we speak but also the silence that surrounds them. A leadership coach and facilitator offers tips on the practice of pausing.
Maria Dixon Hall: Just because you can preach doesn’t mean you’re a communicator
For an organization in which the word is central, the church does a poor job of communicating, says an SMU professor and consultant. She has some advice on how church leaders can do it better.
Listening like a bishop
Most people who have the leader’s ear want to talk about protecting the status quo, says United Methodist Bishop Will Willimon. The trick is to find people who have not been heard.
The Parable of the Abilene Paradox, or the problem of failing to communicate
We often “go along to get along,” but by keeping mum, we can cause our organizations to waste time, effort and money.
Making crucial conversations a priority
Every institutional leader knows he or she must have significant, but potentially difficult, conversations for the health of the organization.
Finances, budgets and planning
Finding a sustainable financial model for Christian institutions
What is needed to move from fretting to creating new models?
Developing a new financial model begins with an inventory of assets and liabilities
If conventional thinking about raising new money will not be as effective as in the past, how do we conceive of new financial models?
Creating virtuous cycles
Creating a virtuous cycle isn’t only a key to running a summer camp. It’s a key to sustaining a ministry over time.
Dave Odom: Overstaffed leads to overwork
Deciding how many staff positions to have is not first a budget decision. Such discernment requires imagination regarding the possibilities, discernment about the consequences and clear expectations about the outcomes.
Articulate your institution’s mission, then develop the financial model
Mission, services and financial model overlap. A decision about one area impacts the others.
Organization
What size should your organization be?
Finding ways to measure scale and understand its impact is a key to effective planning for the future.
Want your institution to do new or better work? Don’t reorganize
Efforts at reorganizing can confuse leaders into thinking that creating the org chart is the same as doing the work.
Overinvesting in the young
Take risks to empower the young for leadership.
Small enough to do and big enough to matter
In striving for being organized in a generative way, it is important to attend to the scale and scope of the work of every individual.
Repeat
One key to moving from a good idea to generative organization is the practice of repeating.
The value of working in teams
What would it look like to prepare and encourage clergy to practice ministry as a team sport?
Time management
James Dubik: Managing the asset of time
Protect your time with a system that frees you to focus on the important while unleashing the creativity of others, says a retired Army general and Catholic lay leader.
Staying afloat amid information overload
Is it possible to serve the church’s mission and still give your mind, body and soul a much-needed break in a world saturated with emails, texts and tweets?