Leadership and Gender Differences

In search of 'The Best' leadership

In the last year, our research has continued with studying the general gender differences presented by Human Synergistic International in Life Styles Inventory (LSI). First of all, we took into account all the 12 styles, grouped into the three clusters:

• Constructive styles - Achievement, Self-Actualizing, Humanistic-Encouraging and Affiliative
• Passive/Defensive styles - Approval, Conventional, Dependent and Avoidance
• Aggressive/Defensive styles - Oppositional, Power, Competitive, and Perfectionistic

Since constructive styles are the ones that are needed for a real leadership potential, we will try to give some recommendations in order to improve in each of us the styles grouped in this cluster and to diminish the influences of the other styles.

According to our research, women and men have split the 12 styles quite equally. Thus, in terms of constructive styles, women tend to be better at Humanistic-Encouraging and Affiliative, whereas men scored better at Achievement and Self-Actualizing. When being defensive, there are more women with passive styles (Approval, Conventional, Dependent, and Avoidance) and there are more men with aggressive styles (Oppositional, Power, Competitive, and Perfectionistic). Of course, our research is contextual (Romania in 2015), but we believe at least partly, the results could be generalized, as they seem to be in line with the ideas mentioned in the previous subchapter.

Achievement style

This is clearly an effective thinking style, which increases the leadership potential through a feeling of direction and the capability to establish and attain realistic objectives, better planning, more respect, and self-accomplishment. There are also more promotion opportunities, higher wages, and less stress.

According to our research, it is slightly more often attributed to men (but the difference is not really significant).

Self-actualizing style

This is the style showing the highest level of personal development and generally manifests through an excellent self-acceptance and acceptance of others as they are. In this case, people are very preoccupied with self-development and release of any negative feeling. They have more energy, believe in their instincts, and are open to new experiences. Self-actualizing leaders can see new opportunities in every situation and are more flexible.

In order to be more self-actualizing-oriented, people should focus on:

• Living in present and thinking less about past and/or future
• Reducing the temptation to judge others and trying to always accept them as they are
• Choosing to do pleasant things whenever it is possible and reorganizing the unpleasant ones in order to become better activities
• Looking at the problems from multiple facets, in order to see the opportunities
• Allowing their feelings and thoughts to guide them more in their lives.

While women generally seemed to work more in order to obtain the benefits of a self-actualizing style, our research showed that this style was clearly more attributed to men.

Humanistic-Encouraging style

This style also refers to a positive unconditioned acceptance of others, but in another way. People having this thinking style are very sensitive to the others' needs, value close relationships, and put most of their energy into the others' development. They appreciate sincerely people's strengths and believe in them. They are optimistic and good at inspiring and motivating the others, which makes them great leaders. They are patient and productive.

According to our research, women score generally better for this style compared to men.

Affiliative style

The last, but not the least constructive style is the affiliative one. It refers to a real need for social interaction and interpersonal contact. People having this thinking style value strong relationships more than anything else, work on developing interpersonal skills, and motivate others with a friendly attitude. They are liked because they focus on teamwork and building trust. By having a collaborative style, they are more productive.

In order to increase their affiliative thinking style, people could do more of the following:

• Looking for opportunities to interact with others and even forcing themselves to initiate talks with persons they do not know very well
• Attending courses and events in order to meet new people
• Focusing on being very close with somebody, in order to build a trustful relationship and to communicate effectively.

As expected, the results of our research showed that women are generally more affiliative compared to men.

Approval style

This refers to a defensive approach, based on the need to be accepted by others. While it is absolutely normal to want to be approved, the tendency to understand this as a need inevitably leads to a series of problems related to low self-esteem, too much attention to the others' opinions, and difficulties in conflictual situations and in negotiations. Affiliative managers are not good leaders because they tend to be undecided, to postpone discussions, to avoid conflicts, and not to act immediately.

• Being more self-oriented and expressing their own opinions• Practicing direct approach of confrontations
• Reflecting on the need for approval and on its causes
• Recognizing their strengths and the fact that they are valuable persons for what they are and not because the others like them or approve them.

The results of our research showed that women tend to feel the need for approval stronger than men and they should work more on diminishing it.

Conventional style

Another defensive and potential dangerous approach is the one of acting only according to norms. It is potentially dangerous because this way people risk losing their uniqueness and individuality. Conventional managers are not good leaders, because they prefer the standard rules and procedures and generally work in a very predictable environment that hinders innovation. The Rules are more important than ideas.

In order to become less conventional, people should work on the following:

• Understanding that being conventional generally means fewer opportunities for development
• Focusing on their unique skills and strengths
• Taking moderate risks, when it is the case
• Trying new ways of doing things, avoiding routine.

According to our research, women tend to be a little more conventional than men.

Dependent style

Dependent managers cannot lead because they rather tend to follow and to depend on the direction of the others. It is quite rare for them to disagree with them or to take a moderate risk, as they are very sensitive to the others' feelings and reactions and it is very hard to say 'no'.

In order to become more independent, people should do the following:

• Learning something new in order to become more achievement-oriented
• Establishing small objectives, as a series of small steps can mean very much
• Focusing on making decisions independently
• Trying to take initiatives and move toward the behaviour of a leader.

The results of our research showed that women tend to be more dependent than men and thus they should work more on the above suggestions.

Avoidance style

People having the avoidance thinking style need protection and keep distance from any potential danger. They are afraid of failure and tend not to take responsibility for their own behaviour. It is hard for them to express their feelings and, in many cases, they focus on their weaknesses rather than on their strengths.

In order to become less avoidance-oriented, people should work on the following:

• Identifying the causes of the avoidance behaviour
• Focusing not only on their feelings but also on the relationships with the others
• Developing self-trust
• Trying to tell the others what they feel and having this, at least for a period, as an objective by itself.

In our research, we found that women tend to have higher avoidance scores than men.

Oppositional style

This is an aggressive thinking style that shows a tendency to be in disagreement with the others. People having high scores for this style often appear to be distant and seem to look for the others' mistakes. They have a negative attitude and their humour is sarcastic. This approach is a result of their belief that their ideas are better than the others' ideas. While the oppositional style is not a constructive one, the score should not be very low either, because in that case the others would perceive them as naïve and maybe too flexible persons.

In order to decrease their oppositional style, people should focus on:

• Understanding that people would admire them more if not being so oppositional
• Not rejecting ideas only because they are not theirs
• Praising the others more often and avoiding the temptation to criticize.

As expected, the results of our research have shown an increased oppositional style in men when compared to women.

Power style

The power thinking style measures our tendency to associate our self-recognition with the degree in which we can dominate and control the others. People having this style are motivated by the need for prestige, status, and influence.

In order to decrease their preference toward power, people should focus on the following:

• Trying a more friendly approach and looking at the others' reactions
• Trusting the others and delegating more
• Learning to be a mentor for the others
• Being aware that the need for power actually means a fear
• Obtaining feedback about their behaviour from neutral sources.

According to our research, as expected, men manifest the need for power considerably more than women do.

Competitive style

This style reflects the need for always comparing with others and obtaining self-recognition through competition. While this is traditionally associated with the idea of success, it was proven that people should rather focus on performance, excellence, on the process by itself, and not on the result of winning in order to really become successful. Actually, people scoring high at competitive style are very aggressive and have a big fear of failure. Competitive managers are preoccupied with the way they are perceived by the others and focus more on being the winners than on performance.

In order to lead more successfully, people should decrease their competitive orientation, and they could do this by working on:

• Focusing on results, on self-achievement, and not on comparisons with others
• Striving to always improve and obtain excellent results
• Cooperating more with others for various projects
• Accepting the fact that no one can be the best at everything.

The results of our research have revealed higher competitive scores for men than for women.

Perfectionistic style

As the name of this thinking style suggests, it refers to the degree in which we feel the need to be perceived as 'perfect'. Of course, the need for being perfect comes at quite a high price: it is hard to be relaxed, people seem not to be very close, everything is stressful, and priorities are not really clear. This style generally comes with a low level of self-esteem and an excessive preoccupation for avoiding mistakes. Expectations from self and others are huge, and it is very difficult to cope with emotions and to express them. Perfectionistic managers tend to look too much into details and thus do not see very well the whole. While being perfectionist seems not to be a good thing, too low scores for this style also reveal some issues related to working under the potential and lacking motivation and determination.

In order to become less perfections, people should focus on:

• Understanding that the desire to be perfect is actually harmful and time-consuming and becoming aware of the fact that their work is not the same with their value
• Improving relationships
• Lowering expectations in order to obtain more satisfaction.

According to our research and this time unlike our expectations, men seemed to be more perfectionistic than women (with a difference not really significant).

Conclusions

Once more, our endeavour has evidenced the fact that the concept of leadership is increasingly important in today's business environment. All the recent changes have called for a new look at the leadership characteristics that guarantee success in the business world. We cannot conclude that men's leadership skills are more powerful and more important compared to the ones of the women or vice versa, but it is clear that gender differences do exist and people should capitalize on them. Business and cultural changes have also shown that, in order to benefit from sustainable development, organizations need a balance in terms of masculinity and femininity, and this can be achieved through a proper understanding of these concepts. A new approach from the one of a one-gender leadership style (masculine or feminine) certainly needs, in our opinion, to be replaced with a vision of both genders complementing each other. This is perfectly justifiable when looking at the current leadership styles and the fact that they are very rarely based on traditional abilities, instead being characterized by innovation skills, flexibility, intuition, and a people-oriented approach.

Besides the analysis that was presented in this chapter, we wanted to define a few initiatives for the future which might contribute to the normalization of the business world in terms of gender equality and favourable performance environment. In our opinion, there are two main directions that can be taken. The first refers to management education: leadership skills programs; leadership courses in all university programs; extracurricular activities that would develop leadership skills; mentoring programs that would contribute to personal growth, confidence, and self-motivation; and strategic thinking (forward looking). The second refers to managerial practice: developing leadership skills through training and coaching; adopting and implementing adequate, non-discriminatory career strategies that capitalize on leadership skills; practicing a provisional type of management; adopting an appropriate managerial style based on performance; an evaluation criteria that will point out the required characteristics of a potential leader; a set of values (equity, professionalism, competence, team spirit, etc). that are to be obeyed by every member of the organization; and strategies that will later be shared with all the employees.

One of our main concerns was to not transform this text into a manifest to support women in their profession and society. Our approach was to be as neutral and objective as possible because we think this subject is not a trend but an essential one: can we remain fixed in our traditional approach, although we are aware that current economic realities reveal certain skills that women possess at a very high level? The pragmatism which characterizes most of the businessmen will make them choose efficient solutions for the companies they run and, if this will lead to a more powerful presence of women in top management, then our society will become more solid and balanced.