Darleen DeRosa* says new research suggests gender does play a role in women’s and men’s choice of leadership style and tactics.
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Do men and women lead differently in the workplace?
Based on much of the research, the short answer is “yes.”
Although the gender leadership differences often align with the stereotype that women lead with a more interpersonal style and men with a more task-oriented style, it appears that gender does play a role in leadership style and preferences.
Because a leader’s success often depends upon their ability to gain the support and cooperation of people who frequently have competing priorities or conflicting goals, we wanted to understand what gender differences, if any, exist in how leaders use influence.
To help answer this question, we used a 360-degree feedback questionnaire on the influencing skills of 223 leaders (116 men and 107 women) across organisations and industries.
While the data pointed to some significant differences in the approaches men and women use to gain others’ buy-in and support, we also uncovered some surprising similarities.
Most effective influence tactics
Our previous research on influence identified 11 influencing tactics used by the most effective managers.
We then grouped these tactics according to their effectiveness in gaining others’ support and commitment — most effective, moderately effective, and least effective tactics.
The four tactics that are most effective in gaining commitment from others are:
- Reasoning: Providing logical arguments and factual evidence to show that a request or proposal is feasible and relevant for important objectives.
- Inspiring: Appealing to a person’s values, ideals, or emotions or generating enthusiasm to encourage them to take action.
- Consulting: Asking a person to suggest improvements to a proposal or to help plan a proposed activity or change.
- Collaborating: Offering to provide relevant resources or assistance to make it easier for a person to carry out a request or implement a proposed change.
Common ground
So, do men and women use these tactics to the same extent?
Our study found that two, Reasoning and Collaborating, are used to the same extent by both men and women.
Reasoning is the most frequently used tactic by both men and women when influencing bosses, colleagues, and direct reports.
Reasoning behaviours such as explaining why a requested task is necessary, explaining why a proposed change or project will be cost-effective, and providing evidence that a proposed activity will be successful are used to an equal extent by both sexes.
We also found that Collaborating is among the more frequently used tactics by both men and women, and both genders use the behaviours associated with this tactic to the same extent with bosses, colleagues, and direct reports.
These findings are somewhat surprising if you believe that men lead with a more task-oriented focus and women with a more interpersonal approach.
If this were the case, you’d expect to find that men use Reasoning (a logical, data-oriented tactic) more frequently while women typically turn to Collaborating (a more relationship-oriented tactic).
Different approaches
There are, however, some significant gender differences in the use of the other two most effective tactics: Inspiring and Consulting.
Although Inspiring was among the top five most frequently used tactics by both men and women overall, we found women use it significantly more frequently than men with colleagues and direct reports.
With bosses, however, men and women use these appeals to the same extent.
While Consulting was among the more frequently used tactics by both men and women overall, we found that women use Consulting more frequently than men when influencing bosses and direct reports.
With colleagues, however, men and women use Consulting to the same extent.
Given that female leaders are often described as having a more participative, inspirational management style than men, you would expect to find that women use Inspiring and Consulting strategies more often than men across the board.
Inspiring strategies are generally less effective with bosses than with colleagues and direct reports, and it appears that both men and women recognise this.
Women, however, better leverage this tactic with their colleagues and direct reports, and men may not be taking full advantage of this tactic.
Both men and women often rely on Consulting when influencing colleagues; however, men may be missing opportunities to use this tactic with their direct reports.
Moderately effective and least effective tactics
For the most part, men and women use the moderately effective and the least effective influencing tactics to the same extent.
There are, however, some interesting gender leadership differences between their approaches.
Three tactics stand out in particular:
- Appraising: Explaining how carrying out a request or supporting a proposal will benefit the person or help advance the person’s career.
- Recognising: Using praise and flattery before or during an influence attempt.
- Legitimising: Establishing the legitimacy of a request or verifying that you have the authority to make it.
Women use Appraising significantly more with direct reports than men use this tactic.
On the other hand, men use Appraising significantly more than women when influencing their bosses.
Women may have the edge here because Appraising is one of the tactics that is not typically effective in upward influence attempts but is more effective with colleagues and direct reports.
Legitimising was one of the top five most frequently used tactics overall by both men and women, which is unfortunate considering it’s one of the least effective tactics.
This strategy should only be used when your authority is questioned or when you are joining a group who is not aware of your expertise and track record.
Research conclusions
Overall, we found more similarities than differences between male and female leaders when it comes to gaining others’ support and commitment to plans, proposals, and ideas.
Most of the gender differences we identified involve influence attempts with colleagues and direct reports, suggesting that both men and women use very similar approaches when making upward influence attempts.
Some of the gender differences we identified in this study are consistent with the conventional thinking that female leaders tend to focus more on relationships and male leaders tend to focus more on the task or end result.
However, other findings from this study are less consistent with the theory that women use a more participative management style and men use a more results-driven style.
For example, both men and women use Collaborating to the same extent and both men and women use Consulting to the same extent with colleagues.
We also found that men and women use the tactic of Pressuring (using demands, threats, warnings, or frequent check-ins) to the same degree.
It’s also clear that influencing tactics are critical to all leaders.
Successful leaders learn how to utilise the most effective tactics rather than leaning on their authority to deliver results.
* Darleen DeRosa is a Managing Partner at OnPoint Consulting.
This article first appeared at www.business2community.com.
