Male and Female Leaders Are Not That Different

(From Business Wire) -- OnPoint Consulting studied the influence skills of 223 leaders (116 men and 107 women) across organizations and industries to examine the extent to which there are gender differences. The research specifically looked at the use of four core tactics that are most effective in gaining the commitment of people who have competing priorities or conflicting goals: Rational Persuasion, Inspirational Appeals, Consultation, and Collaboration.

The study found that men and women use two of the core tactics to the same extent: Rational Persuasion (providing logical arguments and factual evidence to show that a request or proposal is feasible and relevant for important task objectives) and Collaboration (offering to provide relevant resources or assistance if the person will carry out a request or implement a proposed change).

These findings contradict the stereotype that women leaders have an interpersonal style and men a task-oriented style. If this were true, you would expect to find that men use Rational Persuasion (a logical, data oriented tactic) more frequently, and women use Collaboration (a relationship oriented tactic) more frequently to influence. However, we found no differences between men and women in the use of these tactics.

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