Study: Women Are Simply Better Leaders During Times of Crises

The Harvard Business Review made a claim that would have been surprising to anyone else but women.

According to their research, it has been found that women leaders are doing a better job than their male counterparts. The difference was particularly magnified during the crisis of the global pandemic, COVID-19.

Women leaders performed better

The leader performances were measured by the researchers their Extraordinary Leader 360-degree Assessment. The assessment was taken before and during the pandemic. In both assessments, women leaders performed better, but the difference was more distinctive during the pandemic.

During this round, women leaders faired better in 13 out of 19 competencies as compared to their male counterparts. The results are shown below:

Why do women need during times of crises?

According to the report, employees who worked directly under women leaders rated them significantly better in terms of engagement than those who worked under male leaders. The score for women leaders stood at 55.2 while male leaders scored 49.2.

During this round, the respondents particularly focused on interpersonal skills that engaged the employees, giving higher ratings to leaders who showed collaboration and teamwork, with a focus on inspiring, motivating, and building relationships within their team.

Women were seen to display more of those skills, hence, resulting in higher ratings. These skills might even translate to better crisis management as well, as multiple studies have shown that countries led by women leaders fared better during the COVID-19 pandemic than other countries. Whether it was New Zealand under Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern or Germany under Angela Merkel or Taiwan under the presidency of Tsai Ing-Wen, female led countries have been held up as examples of how to manage a pandemic.

What the people really want

Keeping gender aside, the main objective of this research was to show that employees want leaders who empathize with them during times of crises. Employees are looking for leaders who are able to pivot and learn new skills, display honesty and integrity, emphasize employee development during the darkest of days and shows understanding towards the stress, frustrations and anxiety that their feeling.

While women leaders seem to display more of these characteristics, the researchers urge all leaders, regardless of gender to step up during these trying times.

Source: The Rakyat Post