Feminine Leadership Traits Are More Than a Nice to Have

Over the past 10 years or so, corporate America has come to increasingly value feminine leadership traits.

Traditionally, it was all about masculine as men set the standard for what was viewed as strong leadership and what was rewarded. I think we then moved on to view feminine traits as a nice to have, an “add on” but not mission critical.

Today, in a world that is moving faster, is more interconnected, requires constant innovation, and has more available sources of information than ever before (some credible, some not so much), leadership demands greater collaboration, networked thinking, and, if you look at just the last year, more empathy and compassion. 

What Are We Talking About?

What are feminine leadership traits? This is not about gender, rather these are traits that are more commonly found in women – they come more naturally, biologically, and/or they culturally encouraged and developed.

The ones that impact leadership most directly, in my opinion, are (in no particular order) empathy, vulnerability, humility, inclusiveness, intuition, and persuasiveness.

Research based on 360-degree reviews, initially conducted in 2012 and recently updated, found that women outscored men in 17 of 19 capabilities that differentiate excellent leaders from average or poor leaders. Those include: self-development, development of others, inspires and motivates, builds relationships, etc. Of course, this is one study and there are some surprises (I think.)   

What Does That Look Like in Practice?

What happens when you put ego aside? What does it mean to be humble and display humility? Without going down the confidence rabbit hole (are they less confident? Less overconfident?  Lost in self-doubt?), women tend to be more aware of their weaknesses and their flaws or areas for improvement.  They welcome feedback and excel at self-development. As a leader you must always be up-skilling and evolving from experience.

With less ego, they are more willing to hire people that are smarter than them. They know they don’t have all the answers (aka are ok being vulnerable) and, therefore, welcome others’ opinions and perspectives.  Jim Collins author of the renowned, “Good to Great, notes two common traits among successful CEOs are humility and sheer determination.

A natural tendency toward community, connection, and collaboration would also suggest that they provide the right environment for greater innovation. Perhaps.

A 2015 Corinne Post study found that female led teams scored higher on cohesion, cooperative learning, and participative communication.

Empathy also supports commitment and cooperation, let’s people feel heard, and valued. In a world of uncertainty, financial and emotional stresses, and cultural tensions, empathy and a focus on employee well-being will go a long way to retaining and attracting the best talent and improving overall performance.

What Does All That Mean?

There are some studies around performance and women on boards and women on teams that support feminine traits leads to greater performance.

Yet, I was looking for something really focused on women in leadership roles within companies.  A McKinsey study directly addressed this question (and I found the entire analysis very interesting – worth a read!!) Linked here

Here is how they arrived at the conclusion: financial performance is linked to organizational performance organizational performance is reinforced by 9 leadership behaviors  women apply 5 of these more frequently than men  thus contribute to stronger organizational performance.

The 9 leadership behaviors are: participative decision-making, role model, inspiration, expectations and awards, people development, intellectual stimulation, efficient communication, individualistic decision-making, and control and corrective action.

Guess which 5? Bingo the ones in bold! One that surprised me was efficient communication. Perhaps because men are found to be more direct.

It is true that women motivate through inspiration and transformation, -- transforming people’s attitudes and beliefs (also goes with persuasiveness) and aligning people with purpose. Transformative leadership styles are linked to higher levels of team engagement, performance, and productivity.

Amazing! Let’s celebrate feminine leadership traits and do away with the more masculine. Nope. It’s about a balance. There is a time and a place for each, or a balance in any given situation.  For example, should it be logic over intuition? Intuition over logic? It should be both. Or, when it comes to decision-making – it is valuable to take in other perspectives and opinion, but at some point, you need to make the decision.