How To Become a Better Leader: Thinking Like a Woman Part 1

In my last article I wrote about recent research published by Harvard Business Review  revealing that women at every job level are rated by their peers, their managers, their direct reports, and their other co-workers as better overall leaders than their male counterparts. Furthermore, it is women at the highest levels of leadership that outscore their male counterparts the most significantly. The study found that women are rated higher in a total of 12 out of the 16 essential leadership competencies. And in seven out of 16 competencies, female leaders outscored men dramatically (a T value above 7).

Now, it’s time to break down women’s leadership strengths into actionable steps. The key leadership competency in which women outperformed men by the greatest amount was “Taking Initiative.”

Why are women better at taking initiative than men? Interviews suggest it is because women feel that they are under more pressure to perform than men. Female leaders need to “prove themselves” more than their male counterparts.

So how can we all take more initiative?

Set an Agenda You Care About

1. Common sense, and loads of research tell us that when our work is personally meaningful to us we work harder and better.
2. Start by identifying your personal values. Next, dust off the company mission statement.
3. Brainstorm about how your personal values are supported by your company’s mission statement and strategic plan. If your values are not related to your work – it’s up to you to shift the agenda and/or the manner in which the agenda is pursued. Once you take the initiative to align your work with your core beliefs, taking initiative in the future will become instinctual.

Plan Ahead

1. What are your goals for the year?
2. Don’t take things “one day at a time.” Know your vision for the course of one, two, three, four, and five years. Put a timeline on the actions you need take in order to achieve your goals.
3. Revisit your one-year plan monthly or even weekly. Take action accordingly.
4. Do not be afraid to change the plan. The plan is there to keep you moving, but some initiatives will take longer than expected – others shorter than expected. The plan is a guide, not a requirement.

Communicate with Your Team

1. As a leader the success of your team is partially your responsibility. Don’t forget it. They depend on you to set the agenda, give them effective feedback, and take the lead on NEW initiatives.  Remember that if your team does not seem to be making progress it is probably your fault. That’s right. This what it means to be a leader. If you can’t handle it step down.
2. Tell your team about your one & five year plans. Tell them what you hope to accomplish and the actions that YOU personally plan on taking. By doing this, you will set an example for your team. You will also have the added benefit of feeling that you “let your team down” when you fail to take initiative.

Hire a Coach

1. Executive coaches and leadership coaches have become increasingly popular amongst corporate leaders. Why? Because everyone needs a coach in order to perform at their highest level. How many athletes would never have made to the Olympics without a coach?
2. A coach can serve as your accountability partner, your neutral third party advisor, and your confidential guide.
3. Not only will a coach help you integrate your personal values into your strategic plan, a coach will check-in to ensure that you are moving forward with your plan. A coach will also help you identify when you are changing your plan out of necessity, and when you are changing the plan out of fear or laziness. Things your employees would never be able to say.
4. Finally a coach can teach you how HOW to communicate effectively with your team and get them to move your initiatives forward. According to HBR’s study women are also better communicators – probably much of the reason they also seem to take more initiative.
5. Getting things started is useless if your team doesn’t know what you’ve started and how to move it forward.
6. To learn more about what coaches do check out this article by Fox Business

My next article on Becoming a Better Leader:Thinking Like a Woman will be on Practicing Self Development, women’s second best leadership strength.

Any guesses as to why women are better self-developers than men?

Sara is one of fewer than 300 people in the world to earn her master’s degree in Positive Psychology – the science of individual and organizational thriving. Sara coaches managers and executives to create an environment where employees work at peak productivity. Sara’s approach to management consulting is to help businesses identify and cultivate their current strengths, as well as identifying shifts in management practices that will have the greatest impact on employee engagement and the company’s bottom-line. After identifying the most important areas for growth Sara guides managers and work teams through positive change. Sara’s website is saraoliveri.com.

Photo Credit: flickr\World Economic Forum

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