How Do Strategic Management and Leadership Work Together to Drive Success?

The Link Between Strategic Management and Leadership

In organizations, strategic management and leadership are closely interconnected. Strategic management involves setting goals, formulating plans, and making decisions to achieve long-term success. Leadership, on the other hand, is about inspiring and guiding people to work towards a common vision.

Effective strategic management requires strong leadership skills to communicate the strategic vision, motivate employees, and drive change. Leaders must be able to align the organization's resources and capabilities with its strategic objectives to ensure successful implementation.

Furthermore, leaders play a crucial role in fostering a culture that supports the strategic direction of the organization. They need to cultivate a sense of purpose, inspire innovation, and empower employees to contribute their best efforts towards achieving strategic goals.

Overall, the link between strategic management and leadership lies in the ability of leaders to effectively implement strategic plans, drive organizational change, and create a cohesive vision that guides the actions of the entire organization.

Strategic management is one of the various qualities of leadership. A leader improves organizational performance by having a vision (goals to achieve), devising a mission (method), formulating objectives, and strategies to implement them. Lastly, the leader analyzes the results to determine whether the goal has been reached to refine the strategies.

I am reproducing the story which I had posted sometime back. Perhaps this gives the linkage between strategic management and leadership.

Once upon a time, there was a grasshopper who was one of the best hoppers in the land. She began teaching other grasshoppers how to hop.

One day, she met an eagle. She wanted to teach the eagle how to hop, but he just said, "There is no need." She kept trying, but the eagle politely refused. The grasshopper was very angry and cursed the eagle that it would never learn hopping.

Now the eagle began hopping. The grasshopper was surprised.

The grasshopper asked the eagle, "How is it that you know how to hop and yet you talk of flying?"

"Hopping is useful, but when you can fly, it is no longer necessary," said the eagle.

The grasshopper asked, "What's it like to fly?"

"Come on! I will take you to show what it is like flying," said the eagle.

The eagle gently took the grasshopper in his claw. With a few beats of his wings, they were up in the sky. Circling overhead, the grasshopper could see the mountains, rivers, and ocean, far beyond the familiar grass fields.

The eagle was telling, "When I fly, I watch everything as it happens without any effort on my part. Most importantly, I have an exceptional ability to focus on prey from great heights. I can foresee any imminent danger like a storm or cyclone whenever there is the slightest turbulence in the sky."

Careful not to go too high, the eagle soon returned the grasshopper to the ground. The grasshopper understood what the eagle was trying to tell.

With all limitations, the grasshopper is now learning to fly.

- You get a bigger picture when you go up.
- Look for potential opportunities at macro and micro levels for change/improvement.
- Beware of external changes and their impact on the organization.

The Role of Leadership and Management in Organizations

Leadership relates to direction and vision towards an organization, while management follows what leadership decides as a strategy. Management is predominantly concerned with maintaining the status quo—implementing rules and policies—whereas the role of leadership is as a catalyst to find new ways of doing things.

In corporate settings, leadership and strategic management deeply influence each other, with their roles complementing one another.

Thanks and regards,
Devendra

The great explanation you provided, let's have some more - leadership relates to direction and vision towards an organization, while management follows what leadership decides as a strategy. Management is predominantly concerned with maintaining the status quo - implementing rules and policies. The role of leadership, on the other hand, is as a catalyst to find new ways of doing things.

In corporate settings, leadership and strategic management deeply intertwine, with their roles complementing each other.

Thanks and regards,
Devendra

Without getting into the management mumbo-jumbo, the fundamental difference between a leader and a manager (regardless of prefixes such as change, strategic, tactical, organizational, etc.) is this: Who Calls Whom What?

Leaders never call themselves leaders. Their people always do.

Managers love to remind us they are managers. Their people rarely do.

Why? Because managers are appointed to a position in an organization. Leaders, on the other hand, appoint themselves to leadership positions in life!

And lastly, leadership really has no title—it only has a following!

I hope this helps.

Understanding Leadership and Strategic Management

There are a number of good explanations in the columns. To me, leadership is a terminology with more scope, more of a visionary sort of concept where you tend to focus on the big picture and long-term goals, such as how a company or an organization should be taken into the next century or millennium, for example.

On the other hand, strategic management is long-term but not as extensive as a leader would think of his or her venture or business. In today's strategic management practice, we may plan for a few years—2, 3, or 5 at max—as the formulation of strategy must adapt to the volatility and dynamism of the business climate/environment, so to speak, which would force a change in strategy faster.

Conversely, leaders would think much longer term, envision what is to come, and lay broader guidelines within which the company or establishment would run and reach its destination.

Thus, the link between the two is that strategic management is within the scope of leadership, which spells out the direction and envisions how you would see the scenario in the future. Strategy is the vehicle that would take you there!

Regards,
Punya99