Women are increasingly debunking the stereotypical belief that men make better leaders. The number of female leaders in business is rising and women are showing the attributes they bring to leadership are worthy of a closer look.
Current trends indicate women have potential to make greater leaders which result in real world impact. So, what is it that many women leaders bring to the table, that is worthy of lessons learned? What makes a strong and effective leader, and what can we learn from the traits of successful women leaders? Here’s a look at four undeniable traits of females in leadership roles.
1. Trustworthy
Successful leaders show higher than average trustworthiness. Many of them have the ability to create an environment that promotes trust. This enables leaders to create teams that are committed towards the realization of goals. A credible presence, they are willing to listen and engage with those they lead to encourage comfortability with change, and a willingness to embrace new visions and goals. This can make them an ideal candidate to lead an organization dealing with change.
Strong female leaders are also fair in their decision-making process and illustrate a consistent approach, which helps to develop such trust.
2. Communication
This is more than just talking to people. Successful female leaders possess what are perhaps the most critical of communication abilities. They have the ability to read nonverbal language as well as spoken words, a strong ability to communicate in all writing forms and have good active listening skills. They ask questions and check understanding. Clarifying when issues are unclear and ensuring recipients are satisfied with the information given shows a commitment to work together. Communication is a key skill to ensure that the team performance stays on track.
Effective communication courses are a great way to learn or upskill as a leader to ensure your communication achieve its end goal.
3. Open-mindedness
Successful female leaders are able to problem solve and exhibit strong critical and intuitive thinking skills. Understanding any potential bias and ensuring your guard against it to learn objectively while asking appropriate questions to assess the whole picture allows a leader to form the best possible conclusion.
4. Visionary influence
Successful leaders have ability to influence other leaders and change within their organizations. As a change manager, this attribute is most valuable. An ability to anticipate the future, and create a vision that others are encouraged to follow is a trait shown to be successful when implementing organizational change.
Final thoughts
There are many great female leaders across industry and throughout the world. The qualities they display may come naturally, but equally any aspiring leader (male or female) can learn them. Becoming a successful leader is not easy, so learning from those that have gone before and developing your own effective leadership skills and qualities through appropriate training to enhance your soft skills is worthwhile.
Michelle Gillam writes extensively about a wide range of topics related to project management and change management. She is a PRINCE2 qualified project manager with a special interest in improving facilitation skills and communication skills.
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