ARE MALE AND FEMALE LEADERS REALLY THAT DIFFERENT?

ARE MALE AND FEMALE LEADERS REALLY THAT DIFFERENT?

USING INFLUENCE TO GAIN COMMITMENT:
ARE MALE AND FEMALE LEADERS REALLY THAT DIFFERENT?
“The greatest ability in business is to get along with others and to influence their
actions.” -- John Hancock
Do men and women lead differently in the workplace? Based on much of the
research, the short answer is “yes.” Although the differences often align with the
stereotype that women lead with a more interpersonal style and men with a more
task-oriented style, it appears that gender does play a role in leadership style and
preferences.
Because a leader’s success often depends on his or her ability to gain the support
and cooperation of people who frequently have competing priorities or conflicting
goals, we wanted to understand what gender differences, if any, exist in how
leaders use influence. To help answer this question, OnPoint Consulting used a
360° feedback questionnaire to collect data on the influencing skills of 223 leaders
(116 men and 107 women) across organizations and industries.
While the data pointed to some significant differences in the approaches men and
women use to gain others’ buy in and support, we also uncovered some surprising
similarities. Following is a summary of our findings.
MOST EFFECTIVE INFLUENCE TACTICS
Our previous research on influence identified 11 influence tactics used by the most
effective managers. We then grouped these tactics according to their effectiveness
in gaining others’ support and commitment—most effective, moderately effective,
and least effective tactics. The four tactics that are most effective in gaining
commitment from others include Rational Persuasion, Inspirational Appeals,
Consultation, and Collaboration.
So, do men and women use the most effective tactics to the same extent? Based
on the leaders we studied, we found that two of the tactics, Rational
Persuasion and Collaboration, are used to the same extent by both men
and women.
Rational Persuasion (providing logical arguments and factual evidence to show that
a request or proposal is feasible and relevant for important task objectives) is the
most frequently used tactic (out of 11 possible tactics) by both men and women
when influencing bosses, colleagues, and direct reports. There is no significant
Copyright Ó 2010 by OnPoint Consulting
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difference between men and women in the use of this tactic. Behaviors such as
explaining why a requested task is necessary, explaining why a proposed change or
project will be cost effective, and providing evidence that a proposed activity will be
successful are used to an equal extent by both men and women.
We also found that Collaboration (offering to provide relevant resources or
assistance if the person will carry out a request or implement a proposed change) is
among the more frequently used tactics by both men and women, and both
genders use the behaviors associated with this tactic to the same extent with
bosses, colleagues, and direct reports. Examples of these behaviors include:
offering to show a person how to do the requested task, offering to help a person
do the task, and offering to provide resources needed to do the task.
The take away? These findings are somewhat surprising if you believe that men
lead with a more task-oriented focus and women with a more interpersonal
approach. If this were the case, you’d expect to find that men use Rational
Persuasion (a logical, data oriented tactic) more frequently, and women use
Collaboration (a more relationship oriented tactic) more frequently. However, our
study found no differences between men and women in the use of these two
tactics.
There are, however, some significant differences between men and women
in the use of the other two most effective tactics: Inspirational Appeals
and Consultation.
Although Inspirational Appeals (appealing to a person’s values, ideals, or emotions
or generating enthusiasm) was among the top five most frequently used tactics by
both men and women overall (out of a possible 11 tactics), we found that women
use Inspirational Appeals significantly more frequently than men with colleagues
and direct reports. With bosses, however, men and women use Inspirational
Appeals to the same extent. Examples of behaviors associated with Inspirational
Appeals include: describing a clear, inspiring vision, or making an inspiring
presentation to arouse enthusiasm for a proposed activity or change.
While Consultation (asking a person to suggest improvements to a proposal or to
help plan a proposed activity or change) was among the more frequently used
tactics by both men and women overall, we found that women use Consultation
significantly more frequently than men when influencing bosses and direct reports.
With colleagues, however, men and women use Consultation to the same extent.
Examples of behaviors associated with Consultation include: asking for ideas to
improve a preliminary plan or proposal, or encouraging the person to express any
concerns about a proposed change or new initiative.
Copyright Ó 2010 by OnPoint Consulting
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The take away? Given that female leaders are often described as having a more
participative, inspirational management style than men, you would expect to find
that women use Inspirational Appeals and Consultation more often than men across
the board. However, we found no difference between men and women in the use of
Inspirational Appeals with bosses and no difference in the use of Consultation with
colleagues.
Inspirational Appeals is generally less effective with bosses than it is with
colleagues and direct reports, and it appears that both men and women recognize
this. Women, however, better leverage this tactic with their colleagues and direct
reports, and men may not be taking full advantage of this tactic.
Both men and women often rely on Consultation when influencing colleagues;
however, men may be missing opportunities to use this tactic with their direct
reports. Consultation is especially appropriate when the influencer has the
authority to plan a task or make a change, but relies on the other person to help
carry out the work or implement the change. The authority to assign work and
make changes is greatest in a downward direction and least in an upward direction.
This suggests that while women use Consultation effectively with direct reports,
they may be at risk of overusing this tactic with their bosses.
MODERATELY EFFECTIVE AND LEAST EFFECTIVE TACTICS
For the most part, men and women use the moderately effective and the least
effective tactics to the same extent. There are, however, some interesting
differences between men and women:
Women use Apprising (explaining how carrying out a request or supporting a
proposal will benefit the person personally or will help to advance the person’s
career) significantly more with direct reports than men use this tactic. On the other
hand, men use Apprising significantly more than women when influencing their
bosses. Women may have the edge here because Apprising is one of the tactics
that is not typically effective in upward influence attempts (it is most effective with
colleagues and direct reports).
Women use Ingratiating (using praise and flattery before or during an influence
attempt) significantly more than men when influencing their colleagues and direct
reports.
Women use Legitimating (establishing the legitimacy of a request or verifying that
you have the authority to make it) significantly more than men when influencing
Copyright Ó 2010 by OnPoint Consulting
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colleagues. Interestingly, we also found that Legitimating was one of the top five
most frequently used tactics overall by both men and women.
Since Legitimating is one of the least effective tactics and should only be used when
your authority is questioned or when you are joining a group who is not aware of
your expertise and track record, our study suggests that managers (particularly
female managers) may be at risk of overusing this tactic. That woman use
Legitimating more than men may be an indication that women feel their authority is
being challenged more often or they have to work harder to demonstrate their
competence.
CONCLUSIONS
Overall, we found more similarities than differences between male and female
leaders when it comes to gaining others’ support and commitment to plans,
proposals, and ideas. Most of the gender differences we identified involve influence
attempts with colleagues and direct reports, suggesting that both men and women
use very similar approaches when making upward influence attempts.
Some of the gender differences we identified in this study are consistent with the
conventional thinking that female leaders tend to focus more on relationships and
male leaders tend to focus more on the task or end result. For example, we found
that women use the “softer” tactics of Inspirational Appeals, Consultation,
Apprising, and Ingratiating more frequently than men. These four tactics all involve
a high degree of interpersonal skills and relationship savvy, which is consistent with
the theory that women are more “in touch” with the relationship side of leadership.
However, other findings from this study are less consistent with the theory that
women use a more participative management style and men use a more results
driven style. For example, both men and women use Collaboration to the same
extent and both men and women use Consultation to the same extent with
colleagues. We also found that men and women use the tactic of Pressure (using
demands, threats, warnings, or frequent check ins) to the same degree.
Copyright Ó 2010 by OnPoint Consulting
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APPENDIX
Summary of Gender Similarities by Influence Direction
Upward (Bosses)
Tactics
Used to
the
Same
Extent
by Both
Male
and
Female
Leaders
Lateral (Colleagues)
Rational
Persuasion
Inspirational
Appeals
Collaboration
Ingratiating
Personal
Appeals
Exchanging
Legitimating
Coalition
Pressure
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
Rational
Persuasion
Collaboration
Consultation
Personal
Appeals
Exchanging
Apprising
Coalition
Pressure
Downward
(Direct Reports)
§ Rational
Persuasion
§ Collaboration
§ Personal
Appeals
§ Exchanging
§ Legitimating
§ Coalition
§ Pressure
Summary of Gender Differences by Influence Direction*
Upward (Bosses)
Lateral (Colleagues)
--
Male
Leaders
§
Apprising
Female
Leaders
§
Consultation
§
§
§
Inspirational
Appeals
Ingratiating
Legitimating
Downward
(Direct Reports)
--
§
§
§
§
Inspirational
Appeals
Consultation
Apprising
Ingratiating
* Indicates statistically significant differences between men and women. Listed
tactics are used significantly more frequently by the indicated gender.
********
OnPoint Consulting specializes in helping companies close the gap between strategy
and execution. For more information please visit our website at
www.onpointconsultingllc.com.
Copyright Ó 2010 by OnPoint Consulting
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