Female leadership equals crisis management

CHOOSING a woman with the required competences for a leadership position may be deemed advantageous in dealing with poor performance and a battered image of an entity. For instance, the appointment, a few weeks ago, of a female acting chief executive officer at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, Helliate Rushwaya, after a series of sackings of male CEOs accused of graft and mismanagement of the State broadcaster, can be read within a broader gender agenda. It signals a fresh approach and new direction.

But I digress.

Appointed to precarious positions

The appointment of women to poorly performing entities or to organisations that have undergone a series of questionable and risky tenures by previous male leaders is not uncommon.

In fact, this is a common practice across the globe. According to researchers, Alex Haslam and company, women are more likely to be appointed to precarious leadership positions in poorly performing organisations. By the same token, more women will get into managerial positions within Government in times of cutbacks and downsizing. Even in the United Nations and other international organisations, instances have arisen requiring women leaders to take over after some male directors would have messed up, caused controversies or other prejudices to their organisations.

Cleaning up the mess

Writing in the 2015 Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Iacoviello Kulich et al shone the spotlight on a notable situation.

After the 2008 financial crisis, Icelandic banks appointed female leaders “to clean up the ‘young men’s mess’” that was seen to be caused by “buccaneering and recklessness”.

As a Government minister of that country contended, the appointment of two women as chief executives of two newly founded Icelandic banks was “an attempt to signal a new culture within the banking system”.

Locally, there are several examples of this phenomenon, which shows that adverse circumstances produce a desire for change. When a company is facing a crisis, the company board may seek solutions to reverse the current negative trend.

Non-traditional leadership

A different, new leadership may be viewed as a proactive way to deal with a crisis. In this way, the appointment of a non-traditional leader (read woman) can be favourable. Traditional leadership positions are typically seen as masculine and are, therefore, most likely to be occupied by male leaders. Hence, a significant change in leadership can be achieved by replacement of a man by an atypical leader in the gender of a female.

Beware the glass cliff

No matter the case, such appointments are likened to women, who having managed to smash the glass ceiling to the top, find themselves on a glass cliff. Sociologist Marianne Cooper of Stanford University in the USA explains the glass cliff as a phenomenon in which women are more likely to be selected for risky leadership roles.

Discovered by psychology professors Michelle Ryan, the glass cliff is a phenomenon in which women are more likely to be put into leadership roles under risky and precarious circumstances. By taking the helm during difficult times, the challenge presented by the same cannot be over-emphasised. The Icelandic case suggests that in troubled times, a female presence may be advantageous.

General leadership vs Crisis leadership

Research indicates that women possess qualities that can make them more suitable in difficult situations. When asked to describe how desirable different characteristics were for managers of unsuccessful companies, the number of stereotypical female qualities (intuitive, understanding) outweighed the number of masculine ones (decisive, forceful). These kinds of findings have led some to conclude that generally when people think leadership they think men, but when they think crisis — they think female.

Feminine qualities sought

In times of crisis, more stereotypical feminine qualities, like being collaborative or good with people, are often seen as particularly important.

Thus, it may be that women are thought to be more suitable in certain types of crisis situations, since they are believed to possess these kinds of social qualities more than men. In fact, research shows that feminine traits are considered to be especially important when a leader is expected to manage people, work in front and behind the scenes to manage a crisis.

Change motivation vs success

There are, however, change motivations that give some indication as to whether or not appointing a woman to a precarious position in a poorly performing position may be advantageous or not. In a controllable crisis context, a female leader may be seen as a good fit. In contrast, if a company’s crisis stems from a global economic crisis, which is uncontrollable, changing the leadership of the company may not be the ideal solution.

In other words, the choice of a woman for a leadership position may be judged to be advantageous when poor performance results from a company’s previous (actual or supposed) male management practices. Conversely, the replacement of a man by a woman may not be considered helpful in a company that struggles because everyone around it struggles as well.

When previous leadership is not identified as responsible for poor performance, it may be neither necessary nor enough to replace it to change the situation.

Women preference strategic

The preference for a woman should emerge only in controllable types of crises and not in external crises. In addition, researchers reason that when faulty past leadership is the cause of the company’s failure, replacing male leadership with female leadership is likely to indicate that this change is strategic. To ensure that female chief executives succeed at turning around the fortunes of organisations they lead, it is imperative that these women are availed the necessary support and resources to succeed. The critical mass of women leaders at the highest levels can only be achieved if and when an enabling environment complete with requisite resources and support are availed.

◆ Maggie Mzumara is a leadership, communication and media strategist as well as corporate trainer. She advocates women leadership and is founder of Success in Stilettos (SiS), a leadership development platform for women. Contact her on maimzumara@yahoo.com or on Twitter @magsmzumara