How do men and women differ in their leadership styles?
It is tempting to assume that the differences between men and women would automatically favor men, but they don’t. In today’s organizations, flexibility, teamwork, trust and information sharing are replacing rigid structures, competitive individualism, control and secrecy. The best leaders listen, motivate and provide support to their people. The leadership communication styles that women typically use make them better than men at negotiating. Some communication strengths for female leaders include: they enhance team work, they encourage innovation through collaboration and they increase opportunities for continuous improvement because of open access to information. Some strengths for male leaders include: they tend to set strong boundaries, they assign clear responsibilities and they weed out weak performers. What are some of the similarities between the sexes? The similarities among men and women managers are surprising. An extensive review of research suggests that similarities in l