‘Management and leadership’, usually these words are generally heard together. Are they interconnected? Are there any differences between them? This is a discussion that has been going on for some time and will be around for some time to come. It is a common topic for discussion in various management training programs and management training courses. The fact is that you cannot escape this topic if you are attending any type of management training program.

A leader is a person who leads whereas a manager is one who manages. This is not funny, but we have to start somewhere and what better than the basic definitions. The biggest difference as perceived by others is the way in which they motivate people. In life nothing is black or white, everything is a different shade of grey. Similarly a manager can be a leader and vice versa. So, we can have a combination of both.

Management training manuals will tell you that managers have subordinates. Managers are given some powers by the company and the subordinates have to do as they are told. The incentive for a subordinate to do what the manager says is the reward that is given. So, if the subordinate does as he/she is told they are going to get their pay. They are not blind robots but the incentive makes them behave like that. In contrast leaders have followers. And following is a voluntary activity. Leaders do not tell people what has to be done, instead they show them the way by taking initiative and doing things first. Leaders show them that if they follow the leader they are going to fulfill their heart’s desire.

What is the chief focus for a manager? Management training programs and management training courses will tell you that the chief focus for a manager should be a manager. They are paid to get things done. After all they are themselves subordinate to some other manager. They often have deadlines looming ahead so they cannot afford focusing on anything else. Leaders on the other hand focus on people. They have a way with people; they give credit to others and take blame themselves. This creates a loyal base of followers around them. This doesn’t mean that they are very friendly with their followers. On the contrary most of them maintain a sort of aloofness to maintain their mystique.

Managers seem to seek comfortable lives. They are planners and so avoid taking risks. They avoid situations which will lead to conflict and prefer to have cordial relationship with others. Leaders on the other hand, seem to seek risk. It is not that they are looking for thrills. The thing is that leaders have a vision and so, are ready to face any problems that they encounter in order to make that vision a reality.

There is a difference in the perspective of both. Whilst managers think incrementally, leaders think radically. You have all heard of the phrase “Managers do things right whereas leaders do the right thing.” So, while managers tend to do think by the book, leaders tend to go more by their intuition. A manager is pragmatic whereas a leader is more emotional. That is why we tend to follow leaders because they reach us at an emotional level. Management usually consists of people who are experienced in their field. They are people who know how the whole system works. A leader on the other hand can be a new employee with new ideas and vision, but without the necessary experience and wisdom to make it work.

So, will the twain never meet? They will and they do. As any management training expert will declare a great manager is one who is also a good leader. But, for a manager to be effective he cannot just be a leader. He needs the formal authority of management to be really effective. Similarly a leader needs to have some managerial skills if he has to realize his vision. We can go on about the differences between management and leadership. Understanding the differences is necessary so as to make the workplace more productive. And this what all management training programs and management training courses say.

About the Author
Sean McPheat provides management training to small, medium and large businesses. Sean designs and delivers bespoke management training courses across the UK, Europe, US and the Middle East. For a free email management course please visit www.management-training-development.com/freeecourse.htm

Article Source:
http://www.articletrader.com/business/management/differences-between-management-and-leadership.html

In Business, Leadership is about inspiring followers to achieve Team or Organizational goals. You may be a Team Leader or Manager in a Business, and you may have built the respect of your Team. Your next challenge is to get them focused in the right direction, the direction that will achieve their organizational goals.

How does a Team Leader persuade the Team to do this - to see the goals and to want to get there? How does a Leader inspire the Team? The ability to be inspirational is a key Leadership competency that can be practiced and learnt. There two critical keys to work on to provide inspirational leadership - selling the vision and persuading the Team that this is worth doing.

People want to know where they are going and why they should bother going there - what is in it for them. A poor Leader will state the targets and the objectives - figures this week, figures this month. An effective Leader can get higher figures and more committed followers by selling a positive outcome in a way that inspires.

Step 1 is to paint a positive picture of what exactly the end goal is. The goal must be positive - rather than negative, or what we should avoid doing. The art of always using positive language rather than negative is essential to leadership. For example we tell a Team Member what to do or ask for them for the right way - we don't tell them what not to do. The reason is simple, it doesn't work! If the waiter puts a very hot plate down in front of you and says - ‘Don't touch that plate, it is very hot', what will we do? Yes, we touch it!

When we are selling the goal, we paint the picture of the positive outcome - where we are going rather than not going. ‘I want us to be the highest performing Team in the business' - rather than ‘We can't be in the middle of the league this year'.

Paint a very clear picture of the end goal - the follower can see it and clearly visualize it. Make it really attractive and relevant for your particular group. ‘We are going to achieve so much that every new hire will want to come on this Team'.

Step 2 is to have a plan. How are we going to get there? You don't have to have the whole plan - but you need step 1 and step 2 - and both of these must make sense to the Team. Identify quick wins - preferably generated from the Team itself, and present those as the first steps.

Step 3 is to sell it, to persuade them that it is worth doing and gain their buy-in. The language we use in effective leadership is real ‘selling' language - all positive language and very relevant to your Team members. We state the ‘benefits' of the end goal and the ‘benefits' of the effort. First prepare a list of the benefits, then choose 2-3 under each heading, and then work out how to word these in a way that will come across well to your Team.

When identifying benefits, cover 5 areas -
1. The Company - what are the benefits to the Company of us achieving this goal? What is in it for them?
2. The Customer - what are the benefits for the Customer?
3. The Team - if we achieve this goal, in what way will the Team benefit?
4. The Team Leader / Manager - how will I benefit if the Team achieves achieve this goal?
5. The Team Member - what is in it for this Team Member / each Team Member?

Paint the picture of the goal first - what it is. Next comes the benefits, in the order listed above. Then bottom line the success vision and the ‘can do' element.
Practice this and sell it well - you will definitely be on a path to providing effective leadership and to inspiring your Team.

About the Author
Kate Tammemagi is a well respected Consultant and Trainer with Focus Training. She has extensive experience designing and delivering customized leadership training programmes.

Article Source:
http://www.articletrader.com/business/management/leadership-a%80-inspiring-the-team-to-achieve-goals.html

The ISO/IEC 27000 series includes information security standards published jointly by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The ISO 27000 series comprises of a family of information security standards that include the ISO 27001 and the ISO 27002 among others.

Why is the ISO 27000 such an important standard in the world of information security? The ISO 27000 series provides best practice recommendations on information security management, risks and controls within the context of an overall Information Security Management System (ISMS). It is applicable to organizations of all types, across industries, and sizes.

The ISMS concept integrates continuous feedback and improvement activities summarized by a "Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)" approach.

In this executive brief, we focus on the two standards that influence information security initiatives worldwide - the ISO 27001 and ISO 27002. The ISO 27001 International Standard is about requirements related to security techniques for information technology and information security management systems.

The ISO 27001 International Standard was developed to provide a model for establishing, implementing, operating, monitoring, reviewing, maintaining and improving an ISMS.

ISO/IEC 27002 provides best practice recommendations on information security management for use by those who are responsible for initiating, implementing or maintaining an ISMS.

Your organization may be impacted by regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and possibly other regulations such as the Payment Card Industry's Data Security Standard (PCI's DSS) or U.S. State requirements. An important reference and an excellent framework in the world of information security is the ISO 27001 standard. The ISO 27001 is one of several standards developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO) in the area of information security.

About the Author
Uday Ali Pabrai, CISSP (ISSAP, ISSMP), Security+, is the chief executive of ecfirst, an Inc. 500 business. A highly sought after information security and regulatory compliance expert, he has successfully delivered solutions on compliance and information security to hundreds of organizations worldwide. Mr. Pabrai has presented opening keynote and been a featured speaker at several conferences. Mr. Pabrai is a member of the U.S. FBI InfraGard.

Article Source:
http://www.articletrader.com/business/management/getting-started-with-iso-iec-27000.html

"All project management is risk management" (Eric Verzuh)

Risk management is an essential activity in any project or organisation. Risk is defined by M_o_R (Management of Risk, the OGC risk management methodology) as uncertainty of outcome. A risk manager is concerned with managing the risks (uncertain issues and incidents) that, were they to occur, would affect the product or services that an organisation sets out to deliver.

The M_o_R framework highlights three basic steps to effective risk management that can be applied within an organisational or project context:

• Identify

The first step of risk management is risk identification. This includes naming and describing any risk that might affect the achievement of objectives, to ensure that there is a common understanding of these risks among all appropriate individuals involved in the organisation or project activity.

Techniques for identifying risks will differ according to the size and structure of the organisation, the nature of the activity or project and the experience of the risk management team. For example, risk management within a small software organisation may involve brain-storming and discussing potential risks to the project, based on the expertise of the developers involved. A large government body, on the other hand, might draw on the experience of risk management experts who have dealt with risks across a range of similar organisations. Project managers responsible for risks to a technical activity might call on the authority of experts to highlight the relevant risks.

• Assess

Evaluation is critical to successful risk management. Without critical analysis of the risks identified in step one, the risk manager may fatally underestimate the potential impact of one particular risk, or (also fatally) attempt to combat each and every risk, without considering how likely it is that a risk will occur.

The two factors that must be considered in risk analysis are:
o probability
o potential impact

Individuals responsible for managing risks must also be aware of the organisational context of the risks. For example: Risk A may have a greater impact on Output 1 than the effect of Risk B on Output 2. However, if Output 2 is more important than Output 1 to the overall objectives, then Risk B may be considered more important than Risk A.

Ranking risks according to immediacy, impact and organisational context enables the risk manager to prioritise and plan how individual risks will be controlled.

• Control

The risk manager needs to identify the appropriate response to a risk and assign a risk owner, who ensures that the risk response is carried out, monitored and controlled.

About the Author
Simon Buehring is a project manager, consultant and trainer. He works for KnowledgeTrain which offers management of risk training in the UK and overseas. He can be contacted via the M_o_R Practitioner training website.

Article Source:
http://www.articletrader.com/business/management/three-easy-steps-to-risk-management.html