Let us look at different perspectives of the three levels of leadership: direct, organizational, and strategic.
DIRECT LEADERSHIP
Direct leadership is face-to-face, first-line leadership. It takes place in those organizations where subordinates are used to seeing their leaders all the time. The direct leader’s span of influence, those whose lives he can reach out and touch, may range from a handful to several hundred people.
Direct leaders develop their subordinates one-on-one; however, they also influence their organization through their subordinates.
For direct leaders there is more certainty and less complexity than for organizational and strategic leaders. Direct leaders are close enough to see—very quickly—how things work, how things don’t work, and how to address any problems.
ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Organizational leaders may influence several hundred to several thousand people. They do this indirectly, generally through more levels of subordinates than do direct leaders. The additional levels of subordinates can make it more difficult for them to see results. Organizational leaders have staffs to help them lead their people and manage their organizations’ resources. They establish policies and the organizational climate that support their subordinate leaders.
Organizational leadership skills differ from direct leadership skills in degree, but not in kind. That is, the skill domains are the same, but organizational leaders must deal with more complexity, more people, greater uncertainty, and a greater number of unintended consequences. They find themselves influencing people more through policymaking and systems integration than through face-to-face contact.
Organizational leaders focus on planning and mission accomplishment over the next two to ten years. Getting out of their offices and visiting the parts of their organizations where the work is done is especially important for organizational leaders. They must make time to get to the field to compare the reports their staff gives them with the actual conditions their people face and the perceptions of the organization and mission they hold.
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Strategic leaders are generally responsible for large organizations and may influence several thousand to hundreds of thousands of people. They establish organizational structure, allocate resources, and communicate strategic vision.
Strategic leaders work in an uncertain environment on highly complex problems that affect and are affected by events and organizations outside their own.
Strategic leaders apply many of the same leadership skills and actions they mastered as direct and organizational leaders; however, strategic leadership requires others that are more complex and indirectly applied.
Strategic leaders, like direct and organizational leaders, process information quickly, assess alternatives based on incomplete data, make decisions, and generate support. However, strategic leaders’ decisions affect more people, commit more resources, and have wider-ranging consequences in both space and time than do decisions of organizational and direct leaders.
Strategic leaders often do not see their ideas come to fruition during their "watch" and their initiatives may take years to plan, prepare, and execute. In-process reviews (IPRs) might not even begin until after the leader has left the job. This has important implications for long-range planning. On the other hand, some strategic decisions may become a front-page headline of the next morning’s newspaper.
Perhaps of paramount importance—because they exert influence primarily through subordinates— strategic leaders must develop strong skills in picking and developing good second-tier leaders.
Source: US Army Field Manual 22-100
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