Christian Management, Leader-Manager Continuum
Part of ministry resources for church leaders on Church Administration, Christian Leadership, and Church Leadership, Empowerment, and Transformational Leadership.
Professional literature commonly distinguishes between leadership and management. This is not because the two are oppositional, but because the practice of one does not necessarily accomplish the other. Listed below are a few resources that explain the difference between these two currencies and show how to integrate them effectively. Each is listed in order of helpfulness to church leaders.
- Ian Fair, Leadership in the Kingdom — Chapters 6 and 10 apply the concepts of leadership vs. management and effectiveness vs. efficiency.
- Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge. 2nd Edition — Perhaps the most widely quoted contemporary authors in separating leadership and management. See especially Chapter 2, “Leading Others, Managing Yourself,” for their classic statement, “Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing…as the difference between activities of vision and judgment — effectiveness, versus activities of mastering routines — efficiency.” (20)
- John P. Kotter, Leading Change – The idea of management vs. leadership is articulated best in the opening sections of the book (see pp. 25-31, especially the chart on “Overmanaged, Underled Corporate Culture”) and is integrated throughout the book.
- Abraham Zaleznik, Leaders and Managers: Are They Different? (HBR Classic). — Classic article from Harvard Business Review that is the basis for the current distinction between leadership and management.
- Craig R. Hickman, Mind of Manager, Soul of a Leader — Not targeted to church leaders, but some sections are useful.
- Essential Managers Series — This is a European-produced set of guides to all areas of leadership and management. They may not be top consults for church leaders, but the checklists, charts, diagrams, and bullet-lists simplify common managerial tasks.
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