Authentic leadership has become a crucial leadership paradigm for forward-thinking enterprises in a world where change is happening faster than ever. In the midst of all of this, female leaders are emerging as the best torchbearers. Not only are their inherent traits and unique viewpoints enhancing leadership, but they are also raising the bar for authenticity.
While it’s impossible to generalise the traits of an entire gender, research indicates that women perform better than males in many of the skills necessary for genuine, successful leadership. According to the Harvard Business Review, “an analysis of thousands of 360-degree reviews revealed that women outscored men on 17 of the 19 capabilities that differentiate excellent leaders from average or poor ones.”
These seven examples show how women are reinventing leadership:
- Seeking to become self-aware
Genuine leadership is built on self-awareness. To comprehend others around you, one must first comprehend oneself—its advantages, disadvantages, preferences, and biases. In Daniel Goleman’s emotional intelligence (EQ) paradigm, self-awareness is the first step.
It is also the first stage of personal branding and a crucial quality for fostering connections. It is acquired by introspection and outside criticism. However, women are 86% more likely to exhibit persistent and effective emotional self-awareness, according to Korn Ferry, even though they are 20% less likely to receive actionable feedback.
- Adopting a mentality of emotionality
Women frequently possess a high level of emotional intelligence. They are skilled at observing non-verbal cues, reading the atmosphere, and feeling colleagues’ emotions. “Men are not as adept at reading emotions as women are,” the National Institutes of Health claims. Having empathy is a tactical advantage for female leaders. Genuinely appreciating and comprehending the emotions of others, female leaders foster a safe space that promotes experimentation and creativity. Their emotional intelligence puts them in a position to build solid relationships and foster a climate of mutual respect and trust within their teams.
- Giving collaboration priority
The female leadership style frequently prioritises cooperation over rivalry. Women are more likely to create cooperative networks that are advantageous to the group because they recognise that teamwork frequently leads to greater achievement. To innovate at work and solve difficult problems, collaboration is necessary. Lakeisha Robichaux, the CEO, and creator of Chief of Minds, an HR consulting organisation, offers one of her keys to productive teamwork: “Celebrate the wins, challenges, and lessons learned.” We frequently become mired in focusing solely on victories, although every collaboration stage can yield success and solutions.
- Effective communication
Open and honest communication is a strength of women. To empower their people, they frequently adopt an inclusive and transparent leadership style that values open communication and feedback. According to a Harvard Business Review study, women are better communicators than men, which can improve one’s capacity to connect with others, inspire and build teams, and—possibly most importantly—become a stronger leader.
Women leaders possess a special capacity for assertiveness without sacrificing empathy. In addition to being encouraging and understanding, they can demand perfection and drive performance. Furthermore, women contribute a distinct viewpoint to peer discussions because of their lower representation in top leadership posts. LeanIn.org reports that about one in four C-suite leaders are women.
- Promoting belonging and inclusivity
Because of their innate propensity for inclusivity, women leaders are frequently advocates for diversity. By ensuring that different perspectives are heard and taken into consideration, they help open the door for more creative and inclusive decision-making procedures. They create spaces of belonging where team members experience recognition and are heard. Most people share the value of belonging, according to the Valuegraphics study.
- Exhibiting resilience
Women are remarkably resilient, a trait that is frequently developed via conquering hurdles in their personal and professional lives. Teams are motivated to overcome setbacks with greater vigour when they witness this contagious perseverance. According to HBR, women were judged as being particularly good at “acting with resilience.”
- Championing growth
Women leaders cherish growth and development and are lifelong learners. They frequently take the lead in promoting training and ongoing development inside their companies. They are frequently passionate about mentoring others and developing the next generation of leaders because they understand the importance of advice. Mary Church Terrell, a well-known suffragist, civil rights fighter, and woman leader, summed it up in these four words: Lift, as you climb.
Being a leader who truly cares about the organisation and its members is more important than being a strong authoritative figure. Women can use these qualities as effective tools to help their organisations reach their full potential.
Women are establishing a new benchmark for leadership with their nuanced style that speaks to today’s talent and the demands of a workplace that is changing quickly.
(Tashia Bernardus)