To all Women Leaders: Good Morning Gorgeous!
By Beverly Jurenko, Inside Edge Consulting LLC, © 2023
Photo Credit: Traci Ling
I was listening to Good Morning Gorgeous by Mary K. Blige and thinking about all the women in leadership I know or know something about. I honor them for what they have achieved and for the people they’ve touched. There are some amazing examples, the “rock stars,” if you will, who shine like beacons with their ability to inspire, motivate, and direct us. And there are others who lead teams, small groups or communities by making a positive impact on our work and on the people around us. Just as there are many ways to define success, there are many ways we, as women, can lead.
While there are still more men in leadership roles, women as leaders can be multidimensional, agile, and very successful. Often, we outperform the men. Leadership assessment and development firm Zenger Folkman recently released findings that women are more effective in 84% of the competency areas they measure than their male peers. An analysis of over 60,000 leaders (men and women) published in the Harvard Business Review found that women perform better than men in a crisis. So, what exactly makes for good leadership, and why specifically do women make good leaders? Here are four qualities common in successful women leaders to cultivate: Engagement, Standards, Trust, Joy.
Engagement
Leading goes beyond what is being done to look at how things are done. Fostering a culture of inclusion, where everyone’s voice is heard and where people are seen for who they truly are, builds an environment of engagement. Leaders make better decisions when everyone explores pros, cons, and options. Listening to understand allows ideas to be explored and developed. Diverse teams that are fully engaged freely contribute ideas, recommendations, and concerns to innovate and problem solve. If you’ve ever had a manager who shows she values your ideas as well as your opinion, you know what I mean.
High Standards
It’s a fact that we all make mistakes from time to time, but the best leaders have high standards for themselves and for their team members. They also demonstrate initiative to solve problems and innovate. Women consistently score significantly higher than men on initiative, particularly during a crisis. There’s no substitute for reading the details, verifying your numbers, vetting partners, and completing every item on a checklist. Pursuing innovation and addressing complex challenges goes beyond day-to-day competency to build authentic strategic advantage. When you allow yourself to do less than what you know is needed, you as the leader model that sloppiness is okay. Even worse is letting low quality work done by others slip through. Leaders owe it to their organization, their cause, and their own integrity to deliver direct feedback on work quality. This feedback is best delivered clearly and with compassion and respect.
Trust
To build trust you should be willing to make yourself vulnerable. Others will not feel comfortable asking questions or sharing their challenges if they think you are invincible. When you share vulnerabilities as a leader, your team feels safe. Good leaders also take the time to define and clarify tasks and responsibilities up front but then trust their employees to do their work. They focus not only on whether a project has been completed, but how team members feel about the work. Interestingly, of the 18 competencies rated by Zenger Folkman, “Developing Others” lands in the top five for women, and the bottom five for men.
Joy
There’s almost nothing more gorgeous than joy. If you’ve had a leader who is joyous, and if just thinking about it makes you smile, I’m smiling with you. Celebrating professional and personal milestones and successes reminds us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. This does not mean we need to be happy all the time, gushing with compliments, or giving false praise – that can be confusing and disorienting. What generates a sense of well-being is sharing our experience of happiness when things are going well. Sharing joy, when merited, builds relationships, champions change, establishes connection, and inspires teams. These are all areas in which women leaders are highly rated.
When women lead, we are gorgeous. We must remind ourselves that we don't have to be famous or have a C-suite title to be a leader. Logging 10,000 followers on TikTok isn’t a criterion either. If your vision and purpose instill passion in others that influences what they think and do, you are exercising leadership. So go look in the mirror, consider all the ways in which you demonstrate you are a leader, and say, “Good Morning Gorgeous!”
Beverly Jurenko
Inside Edge Consulting LLC
