Harnessing the Power of Women at the Helm

As indicated by a number of recently published studies, companies that have more gender diversity on their executive teams are more likely to experience above-average profitability. One study, in fact, found that companies with more women executives out-performed their less diverse peers by 21%. (McKinsey & Company, Delivering through Diversity)

Yet, oddly, according to a Catalyst research paper, Women in S&P 500 Companies, although women are 44% of the overall S&P 500 labor force, and 36% of first or mid-level managers in those companies, they represent only 25% of executives and senior-level officials and managers, hold only 20% of board seats, and are only 6% of CEOs. Clearly, these companies are remiss in harnessing the power of women at the helm.

What is it about women and the way they lead that helps accelerate organizational performance? How does their approach differ from and complement that of male leaders? And how can companies get better at leveraging the full range of diversity – gender, ethnicity, personality, skills, approach – to create the balanced organization and culture that will lead to and sustain success?

A Lumina Learning white paper published earlier this month had some interesting answers to these questions. (Lumina Learning is a global provider of psychometric assessments in personality and leadership). 

Lumina Learning’s Lumina Spark assessment, based on the Big 5 Personality Traits, looks at 24 qualities that are a part of everyone’s personality, qualities like competitive, collaborative, empathetic, reliable, practical, imaginative, and others. We each have all 24 qualities to different degrees, which make us the complex, unique individuals we are. 

Using a large global sample of Lumina Spark assessments, Lumina’s research found that while there are many similarities between genders, there are some specific areas where they differ.

When looking at Lumina’s 24 personality qualities, men score higher on the three outcome focused qualities of competitive, tough, and logical. Women, on the other hand, score higher within the people focused area on the quality empathetic. Empathy has been called by many the critical skill for the 21^st Century. Leaders Eat Last author Simon Sinek says, “true leadership is about empowering others to achieve things they didn’t think possible. Exceptional organizations prioritize the well-being of their people and, in return, their people give everything they’ve got to protect and advance the well-being of one another and the organization.”   Take care of your people, and the people will take care of the business. That’s where empathy comes in. 

Lumina also compared gender leadership effectiveness through 360 performance feedback from the leaders and work colleagues of study participants. In this comparison, women rated significantly better than men on the majority of 16 effective competencies across Lumina’s four leadership domains – Leading with Vision, Leading to Deliver, Leading through People, and Leading with Drive. Competencies where the differences (women rating higher) were statistically significant include: Passion for Learning, Inspires and Engages Others, Planning and Follow-Through, Interpersonally Astute, Coaches and Develops Others, Win-Win Partnering, Strives for Excellence, and Provides Clear Direction.

Lumina also compared how men and women respond under stress, when their strengths may turn into “too much of a good thing.” Examples of this are Passion for Learning turning into Addicted to Learning, Provides Clear Direction turning into Autocrat, and Calm Under Pressure turning into Appears Disengaged. In this comparison, men rated significantly higher on 10 of the 16 “overextended” competencies. 

The third area of comparison was across 16 emotional qualities. Examples of these are: Regard for Others, Expresses Emotions, Confident, Modest, Even-Tempered. The study noted that, “women are generally more modest and responsive to stress than their male counterparts.” Higher levels of modesty and responsiveness reveal themselves in leaders who are more humble and unassuming with the ability to act with urgency under pressure. Although men have higher confidence, on average, “if this is overplayed, it can show up in leaders as inflated egos who appear unconcerned about the people and business at hand.” 

The lesson in all of this is that women have significant strengths to contribute to organizational leadership and success that for too long have been ignored or under-utilized. It’s time to begin harnessing that power by giving women more opportunities at the helm.

One organization that is taking direct action to provide women with more leadership opportunities is Havas Group. Havas recently launched Femmes Forward, an accelerator program utilizing Lumina Spark and designed to prepare high-potential female employees at Havas to advance their careers at a faster pace. Read more about their program here.

Lead on,

Rebecca