The last thing I want to do is disparage management science. The truth is, one cannot be even a passable leader without management competence. But management without the extra attribute of leadership can be a hollow thing. Managers manage things. Leaders lead people. Management manages: it lets things happen. Leadership leads; it initiates and makes things happen.

Management, by establishing routines that enhance continuity, creates turfism. Leadership, by seeking innovative ways to engage people in common achievement, overcomes turfism.

Turfism cannot exist in a company that has achieved clarity on four seminal matters: its goals and objectives, roles and responsibilities, procedures, and relationships. All four must be resolved in the minds of management and everyone associated with a company. If even one of the four is left dangling, undefined, or unresolved, turfism will retain its toehold in the company.

Goals and Objectives – what your company is trying to accomplish, sounds elementary. It often is, but it can still be elusive. One department may say that the company’s goal is to cut costs, another that it is to manufacture quality products, and yet another that it is to install a JIT system. To some these goals may appear to be conflict. Like the blind men and the elephant, groups see what they know how to see – unless they are told differently.

Roles and Responsibilities – concerns what people are supposed to do. To whom do you give inputs, and from whom do you get them?

Procedures – involves how we do things, make decisions, and resolve conflicts.

Relationships – covers knowing what people need in order to do their jobs, i.e., one another’s conflict styles, inclusion needs, control needs, affection needs, decision-making styles, etc.

Leadership is an integration between continually strengthening your competitive position and genuinely valuing the people that make success possible. Leadership means initiating the process of clarifying goals, roles, procedures, and relationships. Management skills alone cannot do it.