Generalisations can be dangerous in the world of work, and stereotyping by gender particularly so. That said, research carried out over the past few years has regularly reached the conclusion that women make better bosses than their male counterparts. So what makes women better in leading roles? Here are just five reasons women tend to make better bosses...
Women are Better Listeners
An ability to listen is vital in an employer/employee relationship, and women are naturally better at letting people have their say and listening to what is said. All members of staff want to feel that their views and concerns are heard and acted upon, and women tend to be more discussion-focused when men prefer to take swift, decisive action. There are advantages to both approaches, but creating a culture where employees feel their voices are heard and valued leads to a happier workplace all round.
Women Like to Encourage Development
Women often have a harder time getting into senior positions, but that often means they're less inclined to pull the drawbridge up behind them. In a 2015 Gallup report entitled The State of the American Manager, researchers found that those working for a female boss were around one and a quarter times more likely to feel they were encouraged to develop than those working for a male supervisor. Female managers, it seems, were more likely to give their employees space for trial and error and better at finding ways to stretch them.
Women are Better Engaged
On the whole, women are better engaged than their male counterparts and that filters down to their employees. A more engaged boss means a more engaged workforce, and the same Gallup study found that those working for a female supervisor were almost 6% more engaged than those working for a male leader. Women working for a female boss were found to be the most engaged and productive at 35%, while men working for a male boss came in at just 25%.
Women are Better at Offering Praise
In any business, there needs to be a degree of both carrot and stick if you want to get the best out of your employees. Women are almost always better at giving credit where it's due. Giving praise can be interpreted by some as a sign of 'weakness', and while men prefer to portray themselves as in control and authoritative, women are generally much more relaxed about offering praise. Research has shown that employees who feel valued and are recognised for their contribution are more productive, so words of encouragement now and then really can have a positive impact on the whole team.
Women are Better at Building Consensus
Debate and discussion are good, no matter what business you are in. So too is consensus building. Letting everyone have their say and then finding a course of action all can agree on is vital for cultivating a strong team ethic and loyalty between your employees, and women tend to prefer building bridges and finding consensus than men. By listening and letting everyone have their say, women allow everyone to feel equally valued and people are more likely to make concessions for the wider good of the team.
Sweeping generalisations are often unhelpful, but in this case it seems that gender really can have a huge impact on the employer/employee relationship. While women in senior company roles are still the minority, it's clear that those in managerial positions are as successful (if not more so) than their male equivalents. As companies strive to get more women into the top jobs, employing more female bosses really could make a big difference to the success of your business.