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Women Leaders: To Be Effective You Need to Understand Gender Role

A 2006 study by Catalyst — a nonprofit research organization that focuses on women and business — found that companies with the highest representation of women in their top management teams achieved better financial performance than companies with the lowest representation of women. Return on equity was 35 percent higher and total shareholder return was 34 percent higher for the companies with more women leaders.

Yet women still are underrepresented in top leadership. The same study found that 64 percent of Fortune 500 firms had no women corporate officers. Women accounted for just 15.6 percent of all such senior positions, and this figure had declined slightly from the previous year. The percentage of women on boards of Fortune 500 companies was about stagnant at less than 15 percent.

Gender Roles

There is an obvious disconnect between the positive impact of women leaders and their advancement in organizations. One reason may be perceptions of gender roles.

There has been a long and inconclusive debate about whether women take a different approach to leadership. (Catalyst reported, for example, that an analysis of 40 studies found very little difference between men's and women's leadership styles.) But this discussion may be beside the point. The bigger issue is the fact that we even ask such questions about women leaders at all. It reveals one of the central leadership challenges for women: People around them often treat women leaders differently because of gender stereotypes.

Fortune magazine proclaimed 2006 as "The Year of the Most Powerful Woman CEO," with women leading companies such as PepsiCo, Xerox, eBay, ADM, Kraft Foods, Sara Lee, and Avon. Despite the positive news, such stories are an indication that women leaders are given a different kind of scrutiny.

Even if a woman leader adopts a gender-neutral view of the world, chances are the people around her probably will not. If she leads in exactly the same way as her male colleagues, her leadership may still produce dissimilar results. Such differences explain why understanding gender roles — and how they might affect the perceptions and actions of others — is vital for women in leadership roles.

"Women may engage in exactly the same leadership behavior as men, yet they are perceived differently," said Anne Cummings, academic co-director of Wharton's Women in Leadership program. "People react based on their own perceptions, and these perceptions are often couched in gender stereotypes."

Knowing Your Context

To be effective in leadership, you need to recognize how gender roles shape the perceptions and actions of those around you. You need to:

• Understand your colleagues: Women need to understand the ways in which gender affects their interactions with men and other women in the organization. "We spend a fair amount of time on the first day of the program discussing gender roles and how they relate to leadership," Cummings said. "We have an honest conversation about what we know from research and practice."
  
  
• Understand your context: In addition to understanding gender roles in individual interactions, women leaders need to understand the organizational context in which they work. An organization's culture influences perceptions of leadership. Each industry has its own expectations of its leaders, and will have a unique context for women in top positions. Leaders need to use the right language to connect with their organizations. "You need to understand what kind of organization you are working in and your leadership domain," Cummings said.
  
  
• Understand yourself: The Wharton program provides an in-depth personal assessment of each participant's leadership and problem-solving styles. Participants also explore how various elements of their styles can serve as either assets or liabilities in different organizational contexts. Thoughtful reflection about what skills and capabilities to focus on next is important for a woman leader at all stages of her career.

"To be effective as a leader, you need to understand who you are and how you are perceived where you work, and what strategic leadership is in this context," Cummings said.

Isolation and Networking

Another given for women leaders is that it is often lonely at the top. Research shows that many women are derailed on their way up the career ladder. "Women may feel isolated as they move up," Cummings said.

Because of this, women leaders need to create opportunities to connect with mentors and peers in other industries and organizations — a key benefit of Wharton's Women in Leadership program. In addition to interacting with faculty, executives also engage in serious discussions with peers from diverse backgrounds and enterprises.

"We have respect for and knowledge about how women like to learn," said Monica McGrath, academic co-director of the program, who has extensive experience in coaching and teaching women managers. "Women learn through connection, watching other women, and conversation about both business and life. Participants leave the program with a better sense of how to have a conversation with someone at work, and increased skills so they can have a greater impact."

While the program develops specific skills, it also offers an opportunity to step back and look at the bigger picture. "We look for ways to leverage a community of learners who also happen to be women," McGrath said. "One of the benefits of the program is that there are not many opportunities to stop the world and reflect on your legacy. How do you want to integrate all the parts of yourself and make an impact? This program is an opportunity to reflect, connect, and experiment a little. It is a way for women to get into important conversations about their careers."

A Room of One's Own

The Wharton program builds and strengthens core leadership skills that are important for all leaders, but particularly women. The curriculum focuses on negotiation, strategic thinking, and leading change.

"The focus is on transferring skills that participants can immediately go home and apply," said McGrath. "There is so much attention in the popular press on women's need for negotiating skills. The marketplace often sees women as not very good at this. But you may have more skills than you realize if you don't see it as negotiation."

At the same time, the program addresses the broader issues that affect women leaders. For example, on the opening evening, participants discuss a dramatic presentation of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own by a professional actress. "It leads to an insightful and engaging discussion, based upon an important woman leader in a very different context. It helps many of us realize how much progress women leaders have made," Cummings said.

Supporting Women Leaders

Many companies are looking at ways to attract, support, and retain women in their organizations. Women executives and their organizations have shown intense interest in programs that address the specific challenges facing women in leadership roles.

"Organizations are looking for ways to support women as they move more quickly up the ladder," said McGrath. "If they can attract, retain, and enrich women executives, they can be more effective. The Wharton program is all about how to come back to your organization as a more fully engaged executive."