How to Lead and Inspire Women

Firstly, in our experience, women like to connect emotionally in order to help to build trust and respect. Evidence of this can be seen when considering the overall averages of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) which is the most trusted and widely used personality assessment test in the world.

In MBTI terms, one of the preferences based around decision making is Thinking (T) or Feeling (F) and world-wide results demonstrate a clear gender bias. 75.5% of women who have completed the MBTI profile report a preference for Feeling rather than Thinking, meaning women are more likely, although not exclusively, to make a decision based on moral and personal values, as well as consider the feelings of everyone involved. This suggests that women typically place people before process and this applies to all aspects of their lives, whether they are playing in an international rugby team or leading a division of a multi-national organisation. If you take this gender bias into account then, as a leader, you can behave in a way that ensures you place significance on emotions and values. In our experience, leaders that do this demonstrate that they care about the women they are managing, from both a professional and personal perspective, and women are far more likely to respect what that leader has to say and how they lead and manage.

Then you need to understand that confidence can be a fragile thing for some women. It can take a great deal to build?˜

Then we need to understand that men battle to bond and women tend to bond before they battle. What we mean by this is that the process of working and playing together brings men together and makes them a stronger and tighter unit, whether that be a season playing a sport together or working together through a significant business change such as an acquisition or a re-structure.

They bond through the shared experience. In comparison, women are more likely to bond through shared emotions. This still means that women participate well in group activities, however, the bond with their team mates or co-workers is much more reliant on the way the activity made everyone feel rather than the outcome of the activity. This time together also typically involves a greater amount of communication than occurs among male groups. So setting aside time for women to connect emotionally before they get into the process is vital. Creating bonding time at regular intervals will build them as a team.

And, leading on from this, in our experience women generally like to be led not controlled. They like to feel included and involved, so feel most comfortable and trusting when they are led with encouragement, praise and support.

Finally, in our experience, women under pressure are likely to take an aversion to risk. If you are a female senior leader in an international bank, this can be a real advantage; it will mean that you will take your time and weigh up all the odds before making risky decisions. If you are on the rugby field and you are under pressure because you are 15 ?? 0 down and in the last 20 minutes of the game, then this skill may not be so powerful!

So knowing these important factors, how do you lead women? In our opinion these are some of the vital elements that can make the difference:

. This connects you emotionally with women and means that they trust and respect you. Showing your emotions and a bit of vulnerability works well when making this connection.

Accept and recognise this and then work on re-building the relationship over time.

. Give them reflection time and listen to their concerns. Taking this time to listen to them is often enough to help them resolves their concerns.

. Again, it helps to listen and then offer advice and support so they can move away from their self-critical internal voice. Within the sporting world you need your players going on to the pitch believing they are good enough to win and all the hard work and coaching will pay off if you believe in them and tell them so. For women in business the self-doubting internal voice can still be there but the challenge is a bit different. For example, in Karen??s experience of?˜

You can also advise women of some key things they can do that support and enable them to lead and inspire themselves. In both our experiences, there are 4 things women can do that will start to make a difference to their career opportunities:

More often than not, women do not find a mentor early enough in their careers to support and advise them through the challenging times. Your mentor can be male or female; just ensure you make the relationship formal. And gentleman ?? offer to mentor female middle managers, it will have a positive effect on talent development for the future.

. In the Rugby world, this is a given. Historically, women came into Rugby when they went to University and this was the first time they were properly coached. Over the past 10 years this has changed and girls are coming into Rugby much earlier at club level. They are being coached at an earlier age and this is making a significant difference to their skill levels. In business you can use an internal coach available in your business or an external coach ?? either will be beneficial and utilising them to develop the right skills and behavioural support is crucial.

Using a variety of networking sources and skills, including social media, has become vital to career advancement; especially for retiring women rugby players. But when it comes to developing our contacts, women often?˜

How women present themselves, those first impressions and the image they create in a business context, often needs more thought than the suit, shirt and tie template that men can refer to. So take time to think about your image. Be purposeful in what look you want to create and use some expert advice on how to do that ?? the earlier in your career you create a brand for yourself, the better.