Why Women Make Great Leaders
Gender shouldn’t be a factor in determining whether or not a person can be a great leader, one’s leadership capabilities should be based on their individual strengths, work ethics, and character. Although the gap between men and women in leadership roles is declining, there is still a huge disparity amongst them. Studies show that once women attain leadership roles, they excel exceedingly, often surpassing men.
This is because women usually develop soft skills important for effective leadership. Traits like effective communication, empathy and listening are qualities that serve women well when in leadership positions. These inborn skills clearly proves the fact why women make great leaders. This is ironic because historically, soft skills have also been used as excuses as to why women are not fit to lead, for example, women are weak, too soft, too empathetic and so on.
Women are extensively more cooperative and collaborative than men, they exhibit more concern for equity and fairness, making them engage better with employees because they care about their individual growth. They take pride in seeing other people thrive and succeed in life.
There is this notion that “you need a man to take control and make all the tough decisions everyone else is afraid to make.” But we know that a “strong” leader isn’t necessarily a man who stands alone, making all the tough decisions by himself, but rather a leader who serves, who creates a team building, all-inclusive leadership style, who gathers all opinions and ideas in a collaborative effort in order to make the best decision or arrive at the best course of action.
Women tend to view work holistically, approaching it as a component of their life plan, rather than a goal, putting them in a better position to balance their work and personal lives in a healthier and proper way. Viewing work holistically is a key component as to why women make great leaders because it makes them more productive thus leading to achieving greater and excellent results.
This benefits other employees, as women leaders are more understanding of the work-life balance, making it easier to approach them with a personal request, or ask sensitive questions. They are very proactive in becoming role models, mentors etc and sometimes they already have an open and communicative interpersonal relationship with employees making the transition to mentor very smooth.
Women are natural multitasks, and to attain a successful leadership, one of the key components, is the ability to quickly respond to simultaneous and different tasks or problems at a time. This is major factor as to why women make great leaders.
Another major aspect of leadership is the ability to help your team members develop their own skills and strengths. Women are naturally nurturing, which in the best scenarios can translate to helping those around you succeed.”
Leaders need to be able to see beyond the daily elements of their job. As women leaders distinguish what details are important and what details can be left behind to achieve the big picture, they make the path clearer for everyone. When given the opportunity, women leaders can make and achieve big-picture goals that are hugely beneficial.
Leaders are faced with problems each and every day. Women leaders are great when it comes to problem solving. They use creative thinking and their understanding of their team’s skills to help solve the problem. They tackle problems in various ways with a variety of tools to help them solve it.
Amassed in the My Life As A Woman Project are over 500 women from 200 countries that show true leadership in overcoming obstacles to become the true women leaders of this world. If you are interested in learning more about them, grab your copy today!
