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Often, these styles and approaches will differ between leaders within the same organization. This is because organizations will hire people with complementary traits so they can benefit from a wider perspective.
What defines leadership? It's a big question. The concept of leadership itself can encompass many different approaches and styles.
Transactional leadership is about doing things the way they've always been done. While it's effective in certain circumstances, over time it can stunt growth, creativity, and innovation.
The debate about leadership skills being inherent to one gender over another has been raging on for hundreds of years.
But can we really say that certain leadership traits are inherent to one gender over another? Studies have attempted to pin down a definitive answer.
Women tend to focus on developing followers, empowering their teams, and fostering collaboration between team members.
The existing research on gender-based leadership styles has delivered mixed results. But they do provide some interesting insight.
In contrast, gender stereotyping has tended to peg women as being more empathetic, caring, emotional, and nurturing. These traits haven't historically been associated with "leadership."
With this change, traits such as compassion, empathy, integrity, and authenticity have become recognized as important traits for leaders to demonstrate.
A 2005 meta-analysis found women leaders to be more transformational in their approach. What does this mean, exactly?
On the other hand, men were found to be better at transactional leadership. This form of leader develops clear goals and sets rewards and punishments.
When organizations face difficulty, it appears that women's interpersonal skills are more often called upon to steer the ship with empathy and compassion.
In what might come as a surprise, the study also highlighted a theme known as the "glass cliff" phenomenon. This refers to women being called upon more to lead during times of crisis.
If, despite her best efforts, a woman is unable to improve the situation, she might be written off as a failure. This in turn can reinforce gender stereotypes about women not being "capable" leaders.
Of course, someone's identity cannot be reduced to gender. There is an intersectionality between a person's socioeconomic background, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation that influences how a person behaves and leads.
Digging deeper into the concept of gender in leadership poses opportunities and challenges. Acknowledging that stereotypes exist is a step in the right direction, as it builds awareness of things to caution against in the workplace.
But even though limited studies show that women generally possess certain leadership skills while men generally possess others, it's not a catch-all.
Individual leadership styles and traits are the result of a much more complex interplay between the different experiences someone has had in their lifetime and their multifaceted identity.
This recognition is positive. It means companies are beginning to realize that diversity is a strength that can give their business a competitive advantage.
In recent years, it's become more widely accepted that a range of leadership styles are needed to incorporate the strengths of each one.
Many factors combine to make an effectively led organization, including the wider workplace culture, the experience levels of staff, and individual personality differences.
While women score highly for traits including compassion, organization, and honesty; and men for ambition and decisiveness; there is no hard and fast way to assign these characteristics to an entire gender across the board.
Sources: (Forbes) (The Economic Times)
Without a healthy pipeline of potential female leaders, conversations about gender and "better leadership" remain hollow. Only 10% of Fortune 500 companies are led by women.
It also does little to address the fact that women remain underrepresented in the middle tiers of management, which points to fewer women transitioning to senior management positions in the future.
Throughout history, gender stereotypes have prevailed. Typically, men have been associated with traits including assertiveness, confidence, decisiveness, and competitiveness.
Although the glass cliff provides an opportunity for a woman's leadership skills to shine, it's also a high-stakes environment with a greater risk of failure.
It could lead to over-generalization, as not all women are transformational and collaborative, just like not all men are transactional and competitive.
The research into the influence of gender points to certain leadership skills being more easily accessed by one gender over another.
Men and women each have their unique strengths and weaknesses. While it's difficult to generalize by gender, some traits do seem to be more highly correlated with whether someone is a man or a woman. In the context of leadership, these differences are very apparent. What makes a great leader, anyway? And is there really a "better" option between having a male or female boss?
If you're curious to find the answers, click on the gallery and discover more about this controversial topic.
Man vs. woman: who makes a better leader?
Can we ever really say for sure?
LIFESTYLE Controversial
Men and women each have their unique strengths and weaknesses. While it's difficult to generalize by gender, some traits do seem to be more highly correlated with whether someone is a man or a woman. In the context of leadership, these differences are very apparent. What makes a great leader, anyway? And is there really a "better" option between having a male or female boss?
If you're curious to find the answers, click on the gallery and discover more about this controversial topic.