Needless to say, both a director and a manager have leading positions at work. Still, it is important to understand there are differences between these two positions and understanding of such differences will be very helpful for organising and improving your own work at the company.
Goals
A crucial difference between managers and bosses is in setting goals. Despite all believes, setting goals is a task of a manager. It is not expected from a boss to set goals. Yet, a boss has to develop a vision of the future and a plan for company which should be communicated to a manger. The latter one will define goals on the basis of this information.
Since this is the case, it is also logical that managers are focused on more short-term goals, while bosses are working with the general situation and condition of a company.
The system of a company
When it comes to the system of a company, there is a lot of misunderstanding as well. If you are a manager, you should understand that your responsibility is maintaining a particular order of things which has already been created in the company. At the same time, you are not responsible for changes which should be made in the company. This is a task of a boss to bring useful changes into the system.
Risks
Certainly, the development of a company includes a lot of risks, however, for many people it is not obvious who actually should take risks which can lead to the improvement of the condition of an organisation.
Taking risks is what a boss should do. At the same time, the task of a manager is keep a track of possible risks, taking them under control and do whatever is need to avoid them in the first place.
Employees
A very crucial aspect of being a person on a leading position is the relationship with other employees in the company. Actually, the relations between an employer and an employee are more typical for workers and their managers. Bosses are more focused on the relations with their loyal people working for the company.
Other tasks
As you can now imagine, the work of a manager, albeit is on the top level, is not the same as the work of a boss. A manager is reinforcing the ideas of a boss and makes sure a company is functioning according to them. Thus, the work of such a person is more focused on a system, short-term goals and the technical aspects of the functioning of a company. Managers are creating tasks for other employees and are setting goals for them. A boss is only showing the direction for work.
Obviously, a manager is more focused on a system, whereas a boss is focused on the relations.
The conclusion
Certainly, this is the way in which the companies with separate positions for a boss and managers are working. This is not the same if you are an owner of a company who is a boss and a manager in the same time. There is nothing wrong in such a case, however, you should be very careful about your performance. In all likelihood, one of the person is prevailing in you. Analyse your behaviour and thinking patterns and find out whether you are a manager or a boss in the first place.
Once you find it out, you should start developing the skills of another person in order to be more effective at work. There are many sources of knowledge including books and courses which will help you to improve your managerial skills and develop your skills of a boss. Yet, you should be aware of the fact some people have more stronger predispositions for completing the tasks of only one leading position. In addition to it, your company might be large enough to make it challenging for you to take the responsibilities of both a manager and a boss. In such a case, you should seriously think about dividing responsibilities with another person.