http://www.bcentral.com/articles/msnfeature/109.asp?LID=3800
| Why women make better managers
Joanna Krotz | ||
Before getting to the point of this provocative headline, here's a disclaimer: Prepare to consider widely accepted generalizations.
Translated, that means, "Included in this article are some sweeping statements presented as general truths but based on limited or incomplete evidence." Let me add this: Remember, too, that being equal does not mean being the same. Now, let's proceed. As women gained traction in the workforce, gender differences among senior and junior staffers turned up in every workplace, from offices to factory floors to fighter planes. Now that women are pulling up chairs at boardroom tables and launching their own companies the number of women-owned firms has increased by 103% in the past 10 years those differences are increasingly playing out in executive suites, too. Studies show that both male and female styles of leadership can be effective. But when compared side by side, "female" has the edge. Biology and upbringing
Gender differences stem from nurture and nature alike. It's not only socialization that shapes men and women. It's also biology. Researchers are discovering physiological variations in the brains of men and women. For example, male brains are about 10% larger than female brains. But women have more nerve cells in certain areas. Women also tend to have a larger corpus collusum the group of nerve fibers that connects left and right hemispheres. That makes women faster at transferring data between the computational, verbal left half and the intuitive, visual right half. Men are usually left-brain oriented. As girls and boys grow up, of course, they're also molded by differing sets of social rules and expectations. Gender obviously colors behavior, perception and just about everything else. Gender matters
Typically, when comparing managers, the dialogue is framed as men's command-and-control style versus women's team-building or consensus approach. "Women managers tend to have more of a desire to build than a desire to win," says Debra Burrell, regional training director of the Mars-Venus Institute in New York. "Women are more willing to explore compromise and to solicit other people's opinions." By contrast, she says, men often think if they ask other people for advice, they'll be perceived as unsure or as a leader who doesn't have answers. Other female leadership strengths:
Men tend to be more speedy decision-makers, compared to women. Male managers are also more adept at forming what management psychologist Ken Siegel calls "navigational relationships," or temporary teams set up to achieve short-term goals. Women are better communicators
Big deal and surprise, surprise, right? So women typically outperform men at communications and interpersonal skills. You're probably thinking: Those are "soft skills," not the hard tools and analysis demanded to grow a business into consistent profitability. How do such "female" traits translate into better business management? In today's lean workplace, when employees have multiple jobs and fleeting loyalty, when technology enables even tiny companies to compete in global marketplaces, the ability to make staff feel charged up, valued and individually recognized is a definite competitive edge. "Some companies succeed while others don't," says Jeffrey Christian, CEO of Christian & Timbers, a well-known Cleveland search firm. "It's not about production, it's about talent. Whoever has the best team wins." Money is not the primary reason talented people stay on the job or jump. Rather, they stay predominantly because of relationships. "Women get that," says Christian, whose firm placed Carly Fiorina at Hewlett-Packard, among other high-level hires. Generally, women delegate more readily and express their appreciation for hard work more often. "Women ask questions, men tend to give answers," says author, consultant and career coach Terri Levine. By communicating company goals more readily and expressing appreciation more often, women tend to be better at making staffers feel valued and rewarded. That translates into cost-effective recruiting and being able to operate with stable, loyal employees or, as Christian puts it, the best talent. But no drop off in "hard skills"
Besides generally being credited with better communications and relationship skills, women are lately demonstrating higher levels of traditional "hard" or "male" skills as well. Some investigators suggest that many women workers had such skills all along, but that male bosses either overlooked or misperceived them. Others think that the cumulative years of experience for women are broadening their skills. One influential study in 1996, conducted by management consultant Advanced Teamware (which has since merged with Consulting Tools), analyzed a database of 360-degree assessments for more than 6,000 managers. Such assessments include anonymous reviews from a manager's peers, supervisors and subordinates. The study by Michael R. Perrault and Janet K. Irwin looked at a range of managerial behavior, including problem solving, controlling, leading, managing self, managing relationships and communicating. The results:
More glass ceilings to break
Obviously, there are still very few women running Fortune 500 companies and, in the corporate VP ranks, roughly three men to every woman. So if women have the managerial edge, how come you don't see more of them in positions of power? Here's my speculation: Men are used to running the show and, for the most part, don't reward "female" style management because they see it as weak. Women have had to prove that their way of managing works, over and over again. Then, too, women have only gained the independence and skills to ascend in the latter half of the last century. No doubt, their rise will continue. For owners of small and midsized businesses, being able to keep staffers and stakeholders enthusiastic as you steer the company forward may be the most important factor in building success. "You want to delegate outcomes, not tasks," says Ken Siegel, whose Los Angeles firm, the Impact Group, works with executives to develop leadership. "You must have the ability to let go. Women can do that better than men because their self-esteem is multifaceted," he says. "Men's self-esteem is based on what they do, it's uni-dimensional." The upshot for chief executives should be to move over to the "female" side of management, whether you're a thoroughgoing left-brainer or a woman manager who may be trying to manage "male." Turns out, girls do it better. | ||