Man Vs. Woman

The benefits of embracing both feminine AND masculine traits as your leadership style

I wanted to talk about masculine and feminine traits in leadership. Here I touch on how different traits can be beneficial, as well as damaging and offer how coaching can support you to discover your own authentic leadership style and embrace these different leadership traits for more positive business outcomes.

Masculine leadership typically includes traits such as competitiveness, decisiveness and risk taking. Whereas feminine leadership styles include intuition, empathy and diligence. Too much risk taking and self-interest can undoubtedly be detrimental to a business or a project. Conversely, placing too much focus on the detail can lead to missing the bigger picture and failing to act on emerging external indicators. Also detrimental to a business.

Here are some of the traits typically associated with each leadership style:

In business and the working environment we’ve traditionally seen an over-reliance on masculine leadership and the dismissal of feminine. Arguably, some of the most powerful women that have made it to the most senior positions of power (think UK Prime Ministers and disgraced Post Office Chiefs) have done so by operating with masculine leadership traits.

While both styles of course have positive traits, the trick, when mastering any new skill, is about understanding when to apply each style (referred to as “situational leadership”.  More on that below). An accomplished leader will understand that it is NOT essential to always adopt a masculine leadership style in order to be successful. Neither masculine nor feminine is better. The most accomplished leaders will be able to draw on either or both traits when needed but always keeping the right overall balance in check.

To help in thinking about when and how to apply different leadership traits, there are a couple of models which I like that provide a useful framework. These are the Contingency Theory and Situational Leadership models.  Both are similar with a slight nuance.

Contingency Theory posits that there is no right or best leadership approach but that a leader’s effectiveness is contingent on whether or not their style is suited to the situation at hand. Under this theory, a leader’s effectiveness is based on whether or not a leader is more task or relationship orientated.

Essentially this boils down to the extent to which a leaders natural inclinations are towards people or things. If you have a leader better suited to managing things leading a team comprised of different role types and personalities, then it doesn’t take an expert to consider the kinds of challenges that the leader and their team are likely to encounter.

In such a scenario, working with a leader to become better attuned to the needs of the team and cultivating empathy, would be an example of how developing some of those more “feminine” traits, would be beneficial for the overall success of the team.

Situational Leadership is based on four different styles; delegating, supporting, coaching and directing and involves leaders recognising and adapting their approach to suit the development level of their team.

For instance, a more directive approach could be suited to a junior or newly formed team with little or no experience of the task at hand, working in a challenging or time critical context.  Whereas a more collaborative and patient approach would be more beneficial for the teams’ development and performance over the longer term.

Situational Leadership is based on four different styles; delegating, supporting, coaching, directing and involves leaders recognising and adapting their approach to suit the development level of their team.  For instance, a more directive approach would be suited to a junior team or a newly formed team with little or no experience of the task or of working together, whereas a delegating approach is appropriate for an experienced team who is known and trusted to deliver outcomes autonomously.

There are lots of free tools and quizzes available on the internet which are light hearted and fun but can give you some interesting pointers about your own qualities and areas of development as a leader.

The only way to truly get to know your style and to harness your strengths and identify appropriate areas of development is by putting in some dedicated time and effort. Start by observing how others lead and consider what reactions and results their leadership style gets. Undertake some self reflection following an outcome that has gone well, or one that as not.

To get you started, you can consider these questions:

• What was the specific situation?  (You can use the STAR model to describe: Situation, Task, Action, Result).
• Was the result expected or intended?
• If no, what was the desired result?
• What did I do specifically in this situation?
• What other options could there have been in terms of the decisions or actions taken?
• What assumptions might I have been making that drove me to a particular course of action?  Were these assumptions false or unhelpful?
• How might this overall experience have been for others involved?

Honestly appraise how well you think you handled a situation. This is nit about apportioning about self-blame if things could have been done differently. But taking the time to consider such questions will give you an opportunity to identify and explore alternatives which you may be able to apply in future scenarios.

Leadership coaching can help to discover your own authentic leadership style. Coaching can generate raised levels of awareness of yourself and also of others which is critical when leading teams. Coaching can help you to learn when to dial up or dial down certain traits to get the best results.

How is your leadership style right now?  Is there a challenge you are encountering that would benefit from a different approach?

Why not book a complimentary discovery call to explore how: