Are Women Leaders Better at Engaging Employees?

In a time where Employee Engagement across the American workforce remains low, businesses are still failing to tap in on one key competitive weapon – women in leadership. Over the last six months, several of our clients have shared with us their goals of building an even more inclusive culture were all team members are included, valued and have equal opportunity to be promoted into significant leadership positions.

A Gallup study identified that employees of female managers outscore employees of male managers on 11 of 12 engagement items. In October 2014, only 5.2% of Fortune 500 CEO positions are currently held by women. In the 2017 Fortune 500 survey, women in the CEO role rose to 6.4 percent. However, in real numbers, this means that in 2017, there are 32 women in CEO positions in the entire Fortune 500. We still have a very long way to go in terms of increasing the number of women in significant leadership roles, and, in turn, increasing employment engagement as well as the bottom-line.

Three of the Gallup questions to which employee responses confirmed the positive impact of female leadership. Employees are more 1.17 to 1.29 times more likely to strongly agree that:

• In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
• There is someone at work who encourages my development.
• In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.

When it comes to leadership, surveys show that a clear majority of Americans prefer managers who use newer and more inclusive leadership styles.  Inclusive leadership includes asking questions and listening to responses; getting people involved in decisions that impact them; investing in employees’ professional development; and caring about employees as individual, unique contributors.  The data indicates that women use inclusive leadership styles where they are more likely to assign stimulating tasks to their employees and check in more frequently with their employees to access progress and provide support. Women in leadership roles are more likely to utilize an inclusive leadership style, while men still align more strongly with traditional styles of leadership. Further supporting this finding is research from Pershing, a financial business solutions firm, which shows that 7 out of 10 of their survey respondents associated “traditional” or “chain of command” style leadership with men.

So, Are Women Better at Engaging Employees?

Great women leaders have mastered the fine balance between results and relationships, as all great leaders have regardless of gender. Multi-tasking, reading subtle social cues, and responding to potential problems before they even become problems are traits that have been associated with women throughout time, whether as leaders in business or as mothers at home.

Leadership capabilities are not restricted to gender. What these studies highlight, however, are the traits and leadership styles that make an exceptional leader. These studies suggest women are more inclined to put these traits into practice. However, I prefer to view these studies are evidence that women can hold their own as strong and competent leaders, and that the male-dominated roles of leadership need to be made more accessible to women.

To raise employee engagement, U.S. organizations need to embrace the strengths women in leadership have to offer, and both hire and promote more female managers. Hire good women and let them lead. Our workforce, and our bottom-lines, will certainly benefit.