“We are not trying to start a gender war, but we are an organization that is consistently digging for the latest research and insight on how to optimize people potential.

Some of the findings that we’ve come across have … well, given us food for thought. So let’s talk about what we’ve found and how it relates to leadership and gender.

Recently, Gallup published a research “State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders” conducted over four decades about managers and their leadership skills. The research showed findings that women make better managers than men. Why is that? To be honest, when reading these findings, we weren’t sure that it was fair to make such a broad generalization on the topic. However, we’re all ears when it comes to learning exactly what about women, or men, makes them great leaders.

The Gallup study showed data that 41% of female managers have better engagement skills and are more involved with their workforce as compared to only 35% of male managers. Engagement with your organization and your team can make a pretty massive difference when it comes to being a great leader. If your employees feel that you are immersed in their day-to-day successes, frustrations, etc. then you are doing something right! While the difference between 41% and 35% isn’t giant, it does point out that more women seem to possess the skills needed to engage their team.

One thing to ask ourselves is “how do we measure what a good manager is?” For some, a great manager is measured by the output or the productivity of their team. According to the Gallup study, team members of female managers performed better on 11 out of 12 engagement items as compared to team members of male managers. So based on these findings alone, are female managers fostering more productive team members than male managers are? Let’s look further…”