At Work Newswire

By D. Quinn Mills

For social and historical reasons, women face special challenges in reaching leadership positions and any organizational development program must address those challenges effectively.

The role of leaders in our organizations is to energize other people so that they accomplish the work of the organization as well as possible. This means that the leader must communicate well and be perceived as a person who can point the way for others.

In many national cultures it is said that the preferred communications styles for women and men differ. If this is the case, then the means of developing women leaders for our organizations might differ substantially from that of men.

For the most part, that is not the case in America. For example, a top woman executive addressed a diverse (in terms of race, gender, nationality, type of work experience) audience of several hundred middle-level professionals and managers from a variety of companies. She was quickly perceived by virtually all of them as a leader.

After her presentation, those who commented about her style noted that she appeared confident, in charge, and was “clear, organized, and boiled some fairly complex issue into five key takeaways.” There was nothing gender-specific about these favorable comments—they could have been made about a male executive. This suggests that the communication styles expected of a leader are similar among the genders.

What are the personality characteristics we expect of leaders: do they differ by gender? Probably not. Leaders want to be perceived in our culture as professional, tough and smart.

Being professional means that we are emotionally balanced and collected, that we treat people with courtesy and respect; that when we have to discipline a person, we do it in private and politely, not yell at the person across the floor of the office, factory or trading room.

Tough means that we have high standards, for performance and for honesty; that we hold ourselves and others to those high standards; that if there is a crisis, we remain calm and work to solve the problem; that when things are going badly, we keep good spirits and persevere. Tough does not mean nasty or angry or mean. It is perfectly consistent with being professional.

Smart means that we know how to get things done on time and efficiently; that we learn quickly; that we can show others what to do; that we understand what is really going on; that we are imaginative in resolving problems; that when others tell us about situations, we catch on quickly and correctly understand what we’re being told.

Based on these qualities, there need be no difference between men and women in building a reputation for leadership. A man doesn’t have to seem tougher than a woman, nor a woman less tough than a man. A woman doesn’t have to conceal her intelligence; nor a man his courtesy. These qualities—professional, tough, smart—are business-related qualities, appropriate to people in leadership positions, or aspiring to leadership positions, whatever their gender.

Developing female leaders, therefore, can take the same form as developing male leaders in many aspects. The work assignments that potential female leaders receive should be designed to give them experience in the key elements of leadership in the organization, and knowledge about how it works.

They should receive formal training at each important stage of advancement in their careers so that they know what will be expected of them and how to do it. They should be assigned mentors to assist them in understanding the mores of the organization, and in some instances should have coaches to help learn aspects of interpersonal behavior best suited to lead others. These elements of development are standard for women and men.

Special challenges

But women face special challenges in attaining leadership positions. There remains discrimination against women executives, including refusal to accept women as leaders, and efforts to derail women’s career advancement. In the development of women leaders, therefore, it is necessary for senior executives to be always on the lookout to see that women are treated fairly and actually given the opportunities and development which are intended.

Men do not face many of the issues women do in regards to child-rearing. Obvious as this is, it is necessary to repeat because its implications are so often ignored. Because many women at certain times in their lives bear and care for children, they should have a more flexible schedule than men. This is not unfair to men. Instead, it merely reflects a fundamental gender difference, and removes a barrier to advancement in our organizations which exists if women are treated as if they were men.

Special flexibility should be provided to women who are mothers, both in their daily schedules and in their career paths. The exact nature of the schedule flexibility provided depends on the organization and its structure. To not do so can become a competitive disadvantage, robbing an organization of some of its most talented and hard-working leaders.

Some women have over many years managed to advance to leadership positions without protection against discrimination and/or special flexibility in scheduling. Undoubtedly, others will continue to do so. But a great many promising female leaders are derailed in their progress toward leadership positions by the failure of organizations to prevent discrimination against them and by failure to provide necessary flexibility in schedules.

D. Quinn Mills, the Alfred J. Weatherhead Jr. Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School (emeritus), consults with major corporations in the U.S. and globally. He has written extensively on leadership, strategy, and management issues.

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Copyright © 2007 D. Quinn Mills

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