Manager, Leader, Coach, Mentor, Hawthorne Effect: Understanding Your Role

When leading people, you must develop diverse skills to meet the expectations of your organisation and your direct team members. As a leader, you'll wear many hats, often without knowing which role fits the situation best. Here’s an exercise to clarify the distinct roles of a manager, leader, coach, and mentor.

Who is Who?

• The Manager: The individual responsible for planning, organising, directing, and controlling team activities.
• The Leader: The visionary. A leader inspires and motivates, earning the trust and followership of the team through personal charisma and vision.
• The Coach: A real advisor, the coach supports employees during personal development, change, or challenges, guiding them toward solutions.
• The Mentor: Positioned as a role model, the mentor imparts professional wisdom, assists with personal growth, and shares valuable networks and methodologies.

Each of these roles requires specific skills. However, employee expectations, as reflected in workplace satisfaction and motivation surveys, often highlight relational and emotional competencies—qualities typically associated with leaders, coaches, and mentors—rather than managerial attributes. This trend becomes even more pronounced during times of crisis, as seen in the notorious "disembodied" management at France Telecom and its tragic outcomes.

Show Interest in Human Beings

The confusion between these roles, which often leads to an overemphasis on the managerial aspect at the expense of relational qualities, stems from the organisational demand for results. This focus can be misguided, as some adages, like "when we are at work, we only take care of the job," persist stubbornly, ignoring the importance of the human element.

The sociologist Elton Mayo vividly demonstrated this in the 1930s through his famous Hawthorne Experiments at Western Electric’s Hawthorne Works in Chicago. His research aimed to measure the impact of working conditions on productivity, specifically how changes in lighting affected workers. Surprisingly, productivity increased regardless of whether the lighting was brighter or dimmer. The cause? Workers felt valued and improved their performance simply because they were being observed and engaged. Mayo concluded that self-esteem and social cohesion were more critical to productivity than physical working conditions.

Of course, not everyone has the same natural abilities—this also applies to leadership. While being a "gifted" leader may seem more innate, it isn’t about making superhuman efforts but rather showing genuine interest in others. If leaders, coaches, and mentors aren't directly accountable, their impact on motivating individuals significantly contributes to overall results. It's not about "killing the manager" but rather strengthening the managerial role by broadening its scope to include these other critical functions.