Module five traits of women's management. While it is important not to overemphasize gender differences, studies show that women often do lead differently than men do. By examining some common traits of women's leadership, it is possible to see how having women in leadership positions can benefit your organization. Not every woman will lead exactly the same way any more than every man leads the same way. The traits that are common to women's leadership styles, however, it can be highly valuable to your organization, both in terms of employee development, and in terms of the bottom line in a rapidly globalizing business world. Women lead by uniting diverse groups.

One of the common themes in women's leadership is a focus on uniting diverse groups. Because women in general tend to be more collaborative, they focus on finding common ground, and getting everyone to buy into the common vision. This has clear advantages when working in a fast paced team based environment. Getting diverse groups to work together rather than compete increases the chances of ultimate success and also helps to alleviate conflict. women leaders have been shown to focus on people's commonalities rather than their differences. In this way, they are able to get people who are on the surface very different, whether in terms of culture or function or background.

Pull together toward a common goal. This builds workplaces that are more collegial and collaborative, in which interpersonal relationships are valued and maintained. Women value work life balance. Perhaps because they so often struggle to achieve it. Women tend to value work life balance more than do men. Women in leadership positions tend to create workplaces where work life balances is easier to achieve, or at least work toward including offering flexible work arrangements, work from home flex time, shared positions, family friendly benefits and otherwise acknowledging that employees non working lives are important and should be respected.

Women leaders may also be less likely to penalize employees who take time off for family obligations, or who do not work overtime due to a need to care for children when it comes time for advancement. Broadly speaking, women leaders foster a work environment where excellence is important, but employees are not expected to sacrifice their families and personalize for the sake of the bottom line. This tends to lead to a higher employee morale, which can turn foster greater job satisfaction and employee retention. Women value in a personal relationships. much research has shown that women tend to be more relationship focus than our men and online aspects of life. women leaders tend to focus on interpersonal relationships in the workplace much more than their male peers.

They do this by seeking to build rapport and relationships with colleagues and direct reports and engaging in report talk, conversation in which they check in with others and talk about feelings or otherwise Connect. In contrast, men tend to engage and report to where they are interested in facts and getting the test done. Employees tend to respond better to a leader who seems to be personally invested in them. And for this reason may respond better to women's leadership styles of building interpersonal relationships. This focus on interpersonal relationship gives rise to workplaces where employees feel heard and valued, and where they are much more likely to build healthy, collaborative, professional relationships as well. While women's leadership styles have sometimes been critiqued as inefficient compared to men's studies show that workplaces where there is a focus on building and maintaining interpersonal relationships may in fact be more productive and may have better employee retention.

Women value accountability. One of the most intriguing findings that come out of studies of women of leadership is that women tend to value accountability more highly than their male peers appear to organizations with women in leadership positions tend to have cultures of personal and group accountability. And in general, foster honesty and transparency. Women's focus on interpersonal relationships seem to foster this sense of accountability. When people aren't invested in each other, they are more likely to want to hold themselves and others to high standards. a culture of accountability is one in which people take responsibility for their mistakes, and are acknowledged for their efforts and successes and do not seek to undermine others.

The greater collaboration that is found when women are leaders further fosters this sense of accountability, as people who work together are invested in each other's success. a culture of accountability also fosters respect for others, which may lead to fewer interpersonal problems. Up to an including harassment, as well as honesty, which can lead to fewer incidences of theft and other such issues. Case Study no one was sure what to think when Linda took over the department. They never had a woman as a manager before. They were used to Roy's style, which was breast and efficient.

He worked his people hard. Almost no one left at five. And those that did knew that it would haunt them at review time. Roy had little tolerance for mistakes. So people spent a lot of time covering up their errors or finding someone else to blame. When Linda said she wanted to meet with each of her direct reports privately for 15 minutes, people worried that it meant she was looking to fire some people.

So they were surprised in the meeting when she told them. She knew that they had previously been working at a punishing pace, and she wanted them to slow down. Your job can't be everything. She told one of her direct reports shots. Sasha didn't know what to say. She often missed her daughter's dance recitals due to deadlines, but had accepted that it was part of the job.

I want you to be able to trust that your team will back you up Linda, continue. You have a life outside this office. And if you are not living it, you will be miserable here. Sasha was impressed, but skeptical at first. Linda also had her people began working as teams on the large project. They were responsible for Rather than each person working only one piece.

The next week when Sasha had to take a day off to take her daughter to the dentist, she was relieved to find that her colleague role was willing to take her place at an important meeting.