In the publication, the author makes it sound effortless to implement an individualized approach to each (and every) employees’ strengths as well as capitalize on those strengths. I personally do not think that the majority of managers have the time and resources to do that, and perhaps what differentiates great managers from average ones is the time and access they have to the resources they need to get that deep.
The metaphor is all about the degree of complexity and importance played at different roles within the organizations. With the statement that average managers play checkers, the author suggests that all employees are somehow similar; therefore they should move (or be moved) similarly, according to the needs of the company, regardless of their individualities (Buckingham, 2005). Great managers, on the other hand, consider each employee unique; therefore, they look for the individual strengths and weaknesses of each of them. Considering that not all employees can be moved the same way, allow great managers to optimize tasks by leveraging an individual’s strengths. Great managers realize that each person has different gifts, talents, learning styles and triggers. In an analogy to playing chess, if individuals are different in nature, and not all employees can do all the tasks, then they should be moved differently like in chess, not in checkers. To that extent, I agree with the author that great managers play chess while average managers play checkers (Buckingham, 2005).
Great leaders see and sell the company’s vision; therefore, they rally people to a better future (Buckingham, 2005). They also influence everyone to believe in that vision (Arruda, 2016). Rice (2015) suggests that great leaders focus on team’s commonalities to achieve a specific goal. Consequently, the essence of leadership is to ensure that followers are aware of the destination and motivated to get there. “Leaders take on challenges instead of waiting for assignments. Leaders build organizations and help managers understand their function. Leaders study the organization and contribute beyond their role by developing managers.” (Forbes Coaches Council, 2017). From this perspective, great leaders indeed rally people toward a better future (Buckingham, 2005).
That all being said, I found these metaphors to be, to a certain extent, appropriate. Checkers is uniform and average managers, assuming all employees can move and perform equally, is like playing checkers with them. Chess is a much more complex game, and each move must be well thought out and coldly calculated, foreseeing what may result, in the future, from a decision made now. Chess pieces vary in shape and movement, comparatively; there should be different ways for managers to use their employees, making the best of their singularities, which characterizes great managers. Moreover, leaders are expected to sell a vision and gain buy-in, which implies they rally people.
According to Roberts (2018), managing people and managing projects require some standard set of skills since they have a lot in common, such as planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The ability to motivate employees, to communicate effectively, to plan, to organize, and supervise the work of others are some of the skills required for both (Quinn, 2010). However, when we go deeper, we can see that there are differences because project managers are more focused on results for a specific project or only for a short period of time (for some projects, obviously) and there are the timelines, the breadth of the scope and the reporting responsibilities (Ashe-Edmunds, n.d.). Project managers need to demonstrate effective leadership and thrive under pressure of achieving the project key performance indicators and schedule tasks tightly (Quinn, 2010) while managers are usually long-term oriented and focus more on their teams than on the need to achieve specific tasks during a given span. Managers are more likely able to understand everyone's characters and give them the right role and environment while project managers do not have the time or resources to do that.
Another difference is that project managers not only are managers but also leaders. They need to sell the vision of the project, and guide their followers towards achieving the goals of it, and, when possible, they can use the participants’ strengths to meet project milestones and deliverables, which is similar to playing chess. Given that a project has a lifespan, project managers are mainly concerned with achieving milestones, whereas managers are more concerned with continuous improvement. In general, project managers usually have less authority over their teams (they rarely choose the employees in their teams, and cannot hire or discipline their team members), such as in the functional structure (James, 2011). According to Quinn (2010), both managers and project managers must possess human skills; however, managers usually rely more on technical skills while project managers more on conceptual ones.
References and Source Material
Arruda, W. (2016). 9 Differences Between Being a Leader and A Manager. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2016/11/15/9-differences-between-being-a-leader-and-a-manager/#5be4f4094609
Ashe-Edmunds, S. (n.d.). Difference Between Managing a Project & Managing a Department. Retrieved from https://work.chron.com/difference-between-managing-project-managing-department-1356.html
Buckingham, M. (2005). What Great Managers Do. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2005/03/what-great-managers-do
Forbes Coaches Council (2017). What Makes A Good Leader? Key Differences Between Management And Leadership. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/11/20/what-makes-a-good-leader-key-differences-between-management-and-leadership/#7de78de9daf5
James, T. (2011). Operations Strategy. Bookboon.com.
Quinn, S. (2010). Management Basics. Bookboon
Rice, M. (2015). Average managers play checkers; great managers play chess. Retrieved fr
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