Women’s Leadership to Combat Transactional Leadership

The key for all organizations is not to reframe gender diversity as something to do, in addition to other priorities, but as a fundamental means of addressing all business priorities

If we want to create organizations that are fit for the future, we need to reinvent the management systems and processes that develop and give them meaning at their roots. We must question what we do every day as managers in our organizations: how we develop the strategy, design the structure, set the objectives, motivate people, recognize efforts, develop talent, measure performance, learn organizationally and a long etc.

And, above all, today is the International Day of Women’s Struggle for Gender Equality, we must ask ourselves why inequality between men and women continues to exist at the highest corporate levels, and why the majority of women continue to pay with a significant pay gap, as they assume the burden of family responsibility in the care of children and the family as their own.

In today’s conversation we will see that it is not true that there are no real alternatives to the industrial management model. The problem is that there is no executive will to do what needs to be done, which is not a few small “reforms” in the organizations or minor changes in their governing bodies, but a real rescue of management based on new values of inclusion, which put women in a condition of economic and social equality with men.

The Diversity Imperative: A Brake on Women’s Leadership

Gender diversity, at all levels of leadership, is absolutely critical in a complex and rapidly changing world. However, although women represent half of the working population, less than 15% of board members worldwide are women, in Spain in particular, the presence of women in management positions in companies and public administration is around 31%, and only 19.5% of directors in IBEX 35 companies are women.

Part of the problem is political: Getting men to give up their position of privilege and power is complicated, and there are many who are determined to convince us that there are no viable alternatives to the management model that has prevailed for the last hundred years. Part of the problem is cultural: The mental models that prevail in the workplace mean that women are treated differently from men, especially when it comes to promotion to top-level leadership positions. Part of the problem is the “double burden” syndrome of women having to exercise their family and professional responsibilities at the same time. And part of the problem is strategic, as hierarchies tend to overweight the past over the future, crave stability, and by default naturally tend to do what they’ve always done and already know how to do.

For all of the above, female leadership It will not increase substantially without major changes in the culture, policies, and practices of organizations. Personally, I am not in favour of quotas, although in exceptional cases they may be necessary, in any case prioritising the professional promotion of a woman over a man is only justified as a transitional measure to partially compensate for the gender discrimination that women have suffered for many years. The ultimate goal should be to increase women’s social participation by promoting the principle of equal opportunities and social equality between the sexes.

Redarchy Accelerates Equality

Reality shows us every day that the current management models, inherited from the industrial era and based on extractive hierarchies, have a very high cost in terms of transparency, equality, inclusion and commitment of people. Every day it is more evident that managers and the practice of management at this time are suffering a serious crisis of values, and we urgently need to rescue management from its current “premises” to make it more ethical, open, participatory, and inclusive.

Transactional leadership is no longer viable

Hierarchical structures such as power structures and organizational processes that have been used for decades to manage and improve businesses are no longer up to the challenges we face in a world of accelerated change. So it is important to recognize the extent to which cultural norms in society and extractive hierarchies are a brake on women’s equality and progress.

Getting the hierarchy to share power is the hardest part. Although many managers are already beginning to be aware of the need for change, realistically, there are many more who are determined to convince us that there are no viable alternatives to the hierarchical management model. That’s why we need something just as powerful and more effective as the
A new
balance is needed to find a new balance between companies’ needs for efficiency and results and the needs of people, men and women, to develop and find purpose and meaning in what they do.

Redarchy as a promoter of collaborative leadership

The good news is that networks establish an alternative order in organizations. An order not necessarily based on the power and authority of the formal hierarchy, but on the relations of participation and flows of activity that naturally arise in collaborative networks. The redarchy is the right structure to solve the complex problems we face, because it is capable of approaching the problem from a global perspective, in which all the agents involved are part of the problem to the same extent that they are part of the solution.

Redarchy accelerates equality because unlike hierarchical transactional leadership, which is exercised from a position of authority, where our power is derived from position, when we act as leaders in network structures, our power is derived from authenticity, credibility, and our ability to act proactively based on our passion, perseverance, self-confidence, and added value to the community.

All of these values are common characteristics of the leadership styles most frequently used by women. Hence, the Women’s Leadership It is particularly valuable in solving adaptive and complex challenges, such as the current ones, where the solution to problems has to be collective and where people are part of the problem and part of the solution. Gender diversity is not only a matter of social equity, but also, in order to survive in a connected world, companies really need the empathy, sensitivity and consensus capacity of female leadership.

A Different Leadership Without Borders

In a world of global and rapidly changing events, the boundaries of the organization often become blurred, and both authority and personal responsibility do not stop at the edge of the organization. New business models are increasingly based on informal networking, mass collaboration, and production ecosystems that transcend organizational boundaries. Therefore, leadership has to go beyond the boundaries of the organization, and persuading others to build value in community is an essential part of any effective collaboration.

Just as the first female executives made their way following the established patterns of power, and the “command and control” models established by the hierarchy. Today, a second wave of women is making their way into senior management, not by adopting the style and habits that have proven successful for men, but by drawing on the skills and attitudes of female leadership. These second-generation female executives are creating a different path to the top. They are looking for and finding opportunities in networked organizations following the values of Redarchy, to accelerate the necessary changes, and show that results can be achieved in a different way.

As opposed to following men’s “transactional leadership” style, exercised from the power of their organizational position and formal authority, and based on transactions with subordinates, exchanging rewards for services rendered or punishing inadequate performance. The New generations of women leaders are characterized by a style of “
collaborative leadership
“. That is, they manage from their personal credibility and their social skills to mobilize the people around them and get subordinates to transform their own interest into the interest of the group through concern for a broader objective.

Many women who have broken the glass ceiling in mid-sized and non-traditional organizations have shown that effective leaders do not come from a single mold. They have shown that using the command-and-control style to manage others, a style usually associated with men in large, traditional organizations, is not the only way to succeed.

In my long professional experience, I have found on numerous occasions that women are more motivated by the purpose or meaning of their work than men, who generally focus more on economic issues such as compensation, or power issues such as their job title. Women tend to show more emotions at work, they are sociable, expressive and approachable, which provides a lot of potential when it comes to achieving commitments, either to the organization’s goals or to a particular project. Therefore, in situations of change, they show a special ability to ask the right questions, mobilize people inside and outside their area of responsibility, and create the right conditions for collective responses to new challenges.

However, the fact that gender diversity is fundamental for economic and social progress is not a personal opinion, as there are many research studies by prestigious consulting firms, such as McKinsey or Accenture, that constantly reveal this fact. On an economic level, gender diversity in leadership correlates with better organizational effectiveness and better financial results.

Three Key Steps Towards Gender Equality

The key for all organizations is not to reframe gender diversity as something to do, in addition to other priorities, but as a fundamental means of addressing all business priorities. In the practice of Gender Equality highlights three key steps that the best companies have taken to make gender diversity a reality in their companies and bring female leadership to key management positions.

1. Commitment of the CEO and management as a whole to promote gender equality and inclusion. Building a compelling business case and placing gender diversity among the first strategic priorities.
2. Transformation Programs to drive cultural change and make gender equality a reality at all levels of the organization. In this sense, it is essential to invest in
   Gender equality training
   .
3. Persistence. Gender equality and inclusion requires changing deeply entrenched mental models in society and major changes in the culture, policies and practices of organizations, so it takes time to achieve tangible and sustainable results.

Probably the biggest challenge we will encounter on the road to gender equality is how to make people who are used to a hierarchy oriented towards power and control believe that equality is possible. But without a doubt, the benefits of equality in terms of business outcomes and purpose for people are enormous. In fact, without gender diversity and the equal presence of women at the top levels, companies will not be able to meet the strategic challenges of a world that is changing at a dizzying pace.

We still have a long way to go to achieve gender equality, in society and in companies, but if you are a pioneer of management, and you are convinced that new management models are possible, I encourage you not to wait for more evidence and start today to take the necessary steps to achieve gender diversity and equity in your organization as soon as possible. This will ensure that your business can thrive in a complex and fast-changing world.