effectiveness matters: are women better leaders … matters: are women better leaders than men? bob...

Effectiveness Matters:

Are Women Better Leaders than Men?

Bob Sherwin

© 2012 Zenger Folkman

I’ve got good news and bad news . . .


• Current gender workplace issues

• What’s holding women back?

• Evidence: Why gender doesn’t matter

• Evidence: Why gender really does matter

Leadership: Does gender matter?


Current gender workplace issues


• Less pay for equivalent work

• Organizations not addressing gender-parity as a strategic issue/opportunity

• Concern about senior male – junior female work relationships being

misunderstood

• Have to outperform males to obtain equal treatment and opportunity

• Limited progression through leadership ranks

Current gender workplace issues (a sample set)


Limited progression through leadership ranks

Percent of Positions Filled by Level, by Gender

Source: ZF research estimates

For women, the “corporate talent pipeline is leaky and blocked.”

Vikram Malhotra, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company


• “I don’t want the role” (lifestyle)

• “I can’t succeed in the role” (mindset)

• “I can’t have the role” (barriers)

So why aren’t more women in the leadership pipeline?


• “I don’t want the role” (lifestyle)

– Importance of work-family balance – especially motherhood –

outweighs leadership opportunity

– Flexibility in job/career options is a priority

– Bigger job/title not an aspiration or appealing



McKinsey study on gender parity (2012)

2X


• “I can’t succeed in the role” (mindset)

– Don’t think it’s possible (e.g., organizational culture, work-family

priorities)

– Limited role models = Limited opportunities (real or perceived)

– Haven’t built the personal networks needed to succeed

– Question the value of “continuing the fight”



• “I can’t have the role” (barriers)

– policies and processes that don’t support gender parity

– fewer mentors/sponsors to coach, find, promote career opportunities

– assumed limitations (e.g., availability, flexibility, career aspirations)

– traditional beliefs hold that women are less effective leaders

than men and the gender of the leader matters



• Recently published ZF research study in HBR

• Based on leadership 360 survey completed by

nearly 100,000 raters evaluating 7,280 leaders

• 64% of leaders male, 36% female

• 64% of leaders based in US, 36% outside US

• Rank ordered the leaders using gender and other

demographics to develop percentile rankings

– overall leadership effectiveness

– effectiveness by leadership competency

What does the evidence say?

99th

1st

50th


• Some results were expected:

– men occupy a majority of leadership positions

– higher the level in the organization, the higher the percentage of

men holding the leadership jobs

– women scored higher in “nurturing” competencies, like building

relationships and developing others



• Some results were unexpected:

– women’s leadership advantages were not confined to nurturing

– previous ZF research identified 16 competencies that most

differentiate great leaders from everyone else . . . and

women were seen as more effective in 12 of the 16

– at every level women were perceived as more effective leaders

– the higher the level, the wider the advantage gap



The Evidence: Overall, women are more effective

Overall Leadership Effectiveness

Percentile

Score

Men Women

48.9 53.3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

T Value = -6.17

Significance (2-tailed)= 0.00


The Evidence: Women outperform men at every level

Overall Leadership Effectiveness by Level (Percentiles scores)

52.7

52.5

49.9

48.9

57.7

53.9

52.6

52.7

56.2

67.7

30 40 50 60 70

Individual Contributor

Supervisor

Middle Manager

Senior Manager

Executive Management +10.0

+7.3

+2.8

+0.1

+1.2

F/M Gap


The Evidence: Women higher in most competencies

Leadership Competency Male Female T Value Signif

Takes Initiative 48 56 -11.58 0.00

Practices Self-Development 48 55 -9.45 0.00

Displays High Integrity and Honesty 48 55 -9.28 0.00

Drives for Results 48 54 -8.84 0.00

Develops Others 48 54 -7.94 0.00

Inspires and Motivates Others 49 54 -7.53 0.00

Builds Relationships 49 54 -7.15 0.00

Collaboration and Teamwork 49 53 -6.14 0.00

Establishes Stretch Goals 49 53 -5.41 0.00

Champions Change 49 53 -4.48 0.00

Solves Problems and Analyzes Issues 50 52 -2.53 0.01

Communicates Powerfully and Prolifically 50 52 -2.47 0.01

Connects the Group to the Outside World 50 51 -0.78 0.43

Innovates 50 51 -0.76 0.45

Technical and Professional Expertise 50 51 -0.11 0.91

Develops Strategic Perspective 51 49 2.79 0.01

Percentile Score by Competency


Top 10 behaviors that make women more effective leaders*

1. Can always be counted on to follow through on commitments

2. Is careful to honor commitments and keep promises

3. Willingly goes above and beyond what needs to be done

4. Makes a real effort to improve based on feedback from others

5. Actively looks for opportunities to get feedback to improve

6. Stays in touch with issues and concerns of individuals in the work group

7. Brings to the group a high level of energy and enthusiasm

8. Is truly concerned about developing others

9. Follows through on objectives to ensure successful completion

10. Achieves agreed upon goals within the time allotted

The Evidence: It’s not all about being nurturing

* Survey items with largest T value differences between men and women


The Best and Worst Leaders

The Evidence: Women outperform at the extremes

Worst Leaders (Bottom 10%) 10.7 % of all Males

8.7% of all Females

Best Leaders (Top 10%) 9.2% of all Males

11.5% of all Females


Our conclusion: Traditional beliefs aren’t supported by

the evidence, and gender of the leader doesn’t matter


1. Leadership effectiveness drives organizational performance

The Evidence: Why gender does matter


2. Women are just as effective at leading as men



3. Women are under-represented in leadership roles



The Evidence: Gender does matter

1. Organizational performance = f (Leadership effectiveness)

2. Women are effective leaders

3. They’re under-represented in leadership positions

Fixing leadership pipeline for women = Strategic opportunity


Closing: Why gender parity is so important

• Organizational benefits

• National benefits

• Moral benefits

Effectiveness Matters:

Are Women Better Leaders than Men?

Bob Sherwin

effectiveness matters: are women better leaders … matters: are women better leaders than men? bob...

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