Return to Course 8: Assertive Communication in Leadership Roles
How often do we ask ourselves, "What do I need to do to become a good leader?"
Becoming a leader involves much more than simply taking on a leadership role. These positions require acquiring new skills and adapting your existing knowledge. Leadership is about creating an environment where you feel at ease and motivated in the workplace. In short, it’s about becoming the leader you’d like to be or have.
There is no one-size-fits-all guide to leading a team. Every woman is unique and irreplaceable, and the way we lead will depend on the experiences, knowledge, and values that have shaped our lives.
Several questions come to mind when discussing leadership from a woman's perspective:
- Should a good leader be strong and demanding with her teams, or should she show vulnerability to them?
- Is leadership by a man exactly the same as leadership by a woman?
- What do you expect from a woman as a leader?
Harvard Business Review conducted the study "Are Women Better Leaders than Men?". In this study, women were rated by their peers, their bosses, their direct reports, and other associates as better overall leaders than their male counterparts.
Women scored higher on 12 of the 16 competencies that define outstanding leadership. Two of the traits in which women outperform men are taking the initiative and pursuing results—competencies long attributed to men.
Now, if statistics show that we have strengths that make us better leaders than men, what do we need to do to turn this concept into reality? The truth is that women are by no means limited to applying “traditionally feminine” strengths only in the roles or settings in which they find themselves.
Vulnerable and resilient leadership is reflected in our ability to adapt our skills to the needs of our environment, without neglecting our empathy, teamwork, ability to inspire and communicate, productivity, and adaptability, among other strengths.
According to the report *What If Uncertainty Were Your Best Opportunity for Leadership?* by Ernst & Young (EY), the findings show that women exhibit a leadership style characterized by spending more time listening to team members, fostering psychological safety in the workplace, and establishing effective guidelines for collaboration.
If you’re wondering how to be a good leader, you’re probably already on the right track, because you’ve made the decision to step outside your comfort zone and grow—both for your team and for yourself. On the other hand, what DON’T you need to be a good leader?
- Working harder than men to prove your worth to others
- To be perfect and never make a mistake
According to the course “Women’s Leadership: Boost Your Skills and Drive Change,” some of the steps you can take to develop your leadership skills include:
- Develop a personal development plan
- Define the leadership style you want to adopt and tailor it to your team
- Get to know yourself better and develop your emotional intelligence and communication skills
- Build your assertiveness, confidence, and personal brand
Overcoming the Glass Cliff
When the words “women” and “leadership” appear in the same sentence, a phenomenon known as the “glass cliff” tends to emerge. This concept refers to the situation where, when a company is in trouble, a woman is put in charge.
According to the study “How Women End Up on the ‘Glass Cliff’” published in the Harvard Business Review, as long as a male-led company performs well, there is no perceived need to change its male leadership model. Only if male leaders have led an organization into trouble is there a preference to replace them with a female leader.
Furthermore, it was found that when a company is doing well, people prefer leaders with stereotypically masculine traits, but when a company is in crisis, they believe that stereotypically feminine skills are needed to turn things around. This contributes to a company’s leadership culture and helps perpetuate gender biases, particularly regarding leadership figures.
The same study found that this trend does not appear to apply to organizations with a history of women in leadership positions. This suggests that, as people become accustomed to seeing women in top management roles, female leaders will not be selected solely to spearhead risky changes; rather, they will be more likely to be considered for leading organizations with a higher probability of continued success.
Taking on Leadership Roles in the Wake of COVID-19
According to the report *What If Uncertainty Were Your Best Opportunity for Leadership?* by Ernst & Young (EY), the most valued leadership skills for successfully tackling the challenges of this new reality are:
- Communicate clearly.
- Listen.
- Be resilient.
- To inspire and instill a sense of purpose.
- Recognizing and managing emotions.
- Work with others.
- Promote well-being in the workplace.
- Solve complex problems.
- Act in an innovative way.
- Recognize the uniqueness of team members.
Do these skills sound familiar to you? Eight of the top 10 most valued traits in a leader today are related to building relationships, communicating, and connecting with others’ emotions. This involves fostering authentic and genuine relationships, where human factors take precedence over management.
According to the same report, women feel better prepared than men to face the challenges of this new post-COVID reality, completely breaking with the tendency to feel that we sometimes fall short of the mark.
To wrap things up, here are 6 organizational best practices to help you hone your leadership skills within your company
- Enhance the leader's role in promoting culture and values.
- To develop new approaches to organizational health and employee well-being.
- To promote diverse talent and help foster more inclusive leaders.
- Innovating in talent management practices.
- Accelerate initiatives to adopt new ways of working.
- Implement effective communication practices and channels.
Return to Course 8: Assertive Communication in Leadership Roles
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