Difference Between a Manager and a Leader

Welcome to Pelby biz podcast. I'm Dr. Kelly Alhui. I have grown and established brick and mortar practice in Northern Virginia called Ortho Pelvic Physical Therapy and also founded Pelvibiz, which is an online business consulting company that helps healthcare providers make more money and be healthy while doing it, especially in the pelvic health realm. And let's get into today's episode. Today we're going to talk about the difference between a manager versus a leader. Now, you need both. One is not better than the other. You have to have both to make any company really, truly work. So let's go and start to talk about a manager. What, what qualities that a manager needs? Number one, they have to be really good at communicating. That means they have to be good at listening. That means they have to be able to understand both sides. That means they have to be patient with maybe any complaint that's happening or any kind of issue. They've got to understand both sides and be able to communicate effectively that if anyone gets, you know, escalated, they're able to take it down a notch. Number two, again, they must be a good listener. They've got to understand and not just talk, talk, talk at people. They've got to listen, take their concern and then be able to come up with a game plan. Number three, they've gotta be empathetic. So you have to show some empathy that you understand people, that you get it. The second that people feel that they're not understood, then they are going to potentially turn their back on you and be like, I'm done with you. You don't get me. And you're like, all right, I get you. But you have to really be empathetic. You have to be confident. That's number four, I would say being confident in your skills. Because some people potentially in a management role, they're gonna be like, oh, why did she do that? Like, I can't believe she did that. And in a management role, you kind of have to stand your ground and say, these are the clear boundaries. This is what the handbook says. This is how we practice all different things. So you gotta be very confident. You have to make. Here's the. I think I'm on the fifth one. You have to be able to make decisions. So you've got to critically think, be able to make a decision that you feel is in the best interest of everyone. So it's not just for yourself. So you cannot be selfish. Okay? But what is in the best interest of everyone that works there, the business, like, you Got to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. That's what's going to be making the best decision. You're going to have to empower the team. That's the next thing I have found over the last year. I would say this is one of the biggest things that one of my managers was not doing, was empowering my team, and I let it slide. I didn't know timely that it was happening, and I would say it made a big impact. I think this is very powerful, and people skip over this, and it could be. When I say empowering the team, it could be as simple as recognizing a therapist, saying, hey, good job. You helped solve Johnny's problem. It could be giving a therapist a gold star. It could be bringing them a Starbucks. It could be, you know, giving them an extra bonus, $50 or whatever it may be. Right. But recognizing and empowering the team that they are truly making a difference, I think that's super, super important. Also with a manager, I think the manager's role is also to check in on the team and say, hey, Sarah, how you doing today? Hey, Susie, what's up? How you feeling today? I know a company that every single time that they would sign into their computer, they. They would rate on the scale of 1 to 5, how are you feeling today? So that way, the CEO got feedback every single day how people were feeling before they even came into work. And when they were signing their computer, they would just rate themselves on the scale of 1 to 5, like, how they were actually feeling for the day. So he could gauge, like, what the satisfaction is of his employees walking into work. I thought that was fascinating. So. So that's kind of part of management role. You don't have to be that tech savvy, but the manager can kind of be like, hey, what's the vibe today? How can I get the vibes up? The vibes are low. Or someone was having a bad day, like, how could they help out? Hey, you want me to clean your room today? Okay, great. That's super helpful. Hey, you want me to, like, order you lunch tonight? Okay, great. Thank you. So helpful. Like, those little things go such a long way. I think someone that's also uplifting, that's very, very important. Someone that's uplifting, that can bring up the mood instead of bringing down the mood, or if everyone's down, I need them to be up to really get the energy up high so that things continue to move. I think another role for them is to have eyes and ears that are open. 2. If you have A brick and mortar practice. You want them to be your eyes and your ears. So for me, my manager every single day gives me an update of the vibe of the clinic. Like, hey, Kelly, just wanted to let you know, the therapist today, the vibes were good. We were able to handle this, this, and this. This is what's going on in Susie's personal life. And I just want to let you know, you know, be aware of that so that, you know, we can continue to support her. And it's like, okay, cool. Like, I got all the vibes. We're. We're good to go. So I think, you know, just again, having a pulse is. Is super important. What else do I want to say? Having themselves hold themselves to a very high standard and accountability. A manager has to be kind of like a self. I don't want to say a self starter, but someone that's going to hold themselves to a high standard and that. You're not going to have to micromanage. I think that's very important. And then I put lastly is they have to be able to multitask, especially in a brick and mortar practice. You got the email series. Then we have our other software. Then we have different call logs. Then we have people emailing us, then we have people calling in. Then we have therapists asking for things. Then we have patients saying, hey, where's the bathroom key? So you've got to multitask like no one's business to be an effective manager. It is a skill set. Well, and you know what, let me add this. I think last thing is patience. Then you have to have a lot of patience with a manager. I maybe said at the beginning, but patience is huge as a manager to get people to come together, especially if they're having a bad day. How can you help make things better and not as hard for them? And. And sometimes that requires patience. So I think that's huge. Okay, so switching gears, then you can have a leader. A leader. This is what I am. I am definitely not a manager. I am a leader, but again, there's not one that's better. You have to have both to run anything. So I'm a leader. I feel like leaders a lot of times are typically straight shooters. They're not going to really have time to, like, beat around the bush. They're just going to kind of say what they need to say and then keep leading. They typically are very confident in their skill set and their leadership. They're typically very confident people. They are also thinkers. They're not overthinkers. These are not overthinker kind of people. They typically are. They think and then they quickly take action. They think quickly take action. That's typically a leader trait. Leaders are also going to be the people that have the ideas. They're going to be your idea person person. They're not going to be the person that's doing all the nitty gritty behind the scenes doing the micro mini task. No, these people are typically, they come up with the ideas first, they put it out there. It may not be pretty when they first come up with it, but they are the ones that are going to actually bring the ideas to the table. This is the most important job I feel like as the leader to bring it to the table and then like put it into play. That's what they're going to do. May not be pretty when they put it into play, but they're going to start bringing the motion forward and put moving it in play. And the manager are going to come in and they're going to help tweak what's in play. These people are also creative. They're going to be thinking outside the box. Like I said, they're going to do things way differently. These are people, leaders are going to be people that suck at test taking because they just didn't fit inside the box that the test wants to put them in. This was me, okay? I was like what? It could be this and why not this and why don't we do this? You know, it's like yeah, our brains work so creatively that they can come up with these crazy ideas that other people are not even dreaming of. Just like this pelvic clock behind me, like that's a leader right there because no one's thought about that. And then I put that into play, right? So that's just one example of the creativity outside the box. I find that these people as well are very self aware. So I find this in myself as well. Like I know my strengths, I know my weaknesses, I know what I need to work on. I know what I can get better at. I can also. Here's another thing of a leader. I can see everyone's vision before they even see it in themselves. Like I can see if they stay on track where someone's going and where I could actually like take them before they even have a clue what that even looks like. Now that's a really good sign of a leader that you see things and other people that they don't even see. So like everyone in my mastermind, I'm like, oh yeah, this person and this many years, I see them doing this. This person in this many years, I see them doing this. So it's. I don't know, it's a skill set that I can say is it's pretty cool. It's kind of like you can predict the future, but it really does. It's very helpful. And a lot of it does come true. You have to be very resilient as a leader. You put the ideas out there, many people want to copy it or they want to take from you because they feel like, hey, they just, I don't know, they just feel like, entitled. I don't know. It's very weird. But as a leader, you're really kind of positioning yourself as like the first, the go to all that kind of stuff. And when you are on top, there's many people that want to either be you come after you take things from you. And so you end up being. I find leaders end up being very, very giving people. Sometimes they may not appear that way, but I find them to be very giving because they're always typically the first ones of the idea. And then they're like, hey, yeah, we could do this, we could do this. And they typically are like, yeah, everyone, let's just join in and let's help each other out, that kind of thing. So that's another big sign of a leader. So you have to be resilient. I think you have to be really resilient in the fact of you cannot let things slow you down or bother you. When you are a leader mentally, you have to be so, so strong that nothing will take you out. No matter if someone's trying to steal your company, no matter if someone's trying to take all your clients in business, it doesn't matter. You have such strong belief that you are going to continue to be on top and continue to progress, that it just doesn't matter what other people are doing. You tend to stay focused. You tend to continue to create the ideas. And then when you create these ideas because you're so unique, then people still look at you as the leader. And so I think that's a big trait for a leader, that a leader needs time to also think. So that way they can come up with the ideas to be able to lead the ship. And they're not doing a lot of the action stuff. If you're a leader and you're doing all the action stuff well, then you may not be as much of a leader as you think you are, because leaders a lot of times are not going to be doing the action, they're going to be doing the thinking and the delegating. I think that's also very important. You tend to empower others to get other people to believe in themselves. So you have to empower people to, to get them to move and take action on what you believe is the best path potentially for them. I think that's huge. You have to be able to pivot on a dime. You have to be very flexible. Sometimes leaders can be rigid and be like, oh, I don't want change to happen. But you have got to be ready for any change, all change, whether or not that's a life event, no matter if that's your health, no matter if it's an employee. Like any and all changes, you have to be physically and mentally ready for. If you truly want to be a leader, you have to be physically fit. I'm not kidding. Because the endurance that you have to have to stay in the game is huge. And then you have to be mentally ready to take on whatever comes your way and whatever the haters are going to hate on. Like that is what you are going to have to do. It's definitely mentally and physically can be challenging because everyone is looking at you to say, hey, what's the next move? Okay, so that's huge. What else? Let me think, let me think. I would say that's probably a good list of both. And again, you're going to have to have a manager. The manager and the leader have to work together so that the leader can think of the ideas, have the creative side, the manager does the implementation, does the managing, is the patient person. And then overall like lifts everyone up. Overall together you have a winning team. So you know, kind of, I mean after this episode I would say audit and say am I a leader or I'm a manager? If you are a leader, then you want your right hand person to be a manager. If you're a manager, then you want your right hand person to be a leader. And together, if you can create that team, I'm telling you that's only going to take you to the top in your company and in life in general. You can even think about this as like a life partner kind of situation and not just from the business aspect but together. If you can work together that way, I'm telling you it's only going to be into your benefit. So. So hopefully that gives some insight. I would love to know in the comments, if you are a leader, are you a manager? Which one are you again? There's not one that's better than the other. They're just different, and they have different traits. And there's reasons why you want to align with someone else that's slightly different than you so that you guys can reach the top together. So hopefully you guys enjoyed this episode. We will talk soon. Bye, guys. Are you ready to live the life of your dreams? If so, make sure you book a call with me so that we can help solve one problem. Thanks so much for listening. Please, like, subscribe and comment below so that we can continue to make more content and give you the best of the best.