Can communal leadership benefit men more than women?

We are beginning to rethink what makes a good leader. Bosses are becoming more empathetic, engaged and supportive – it’s what new generations now expect from their employers, and this is good news.  

But while these traits are seen as typically feminine, it’s men who benefit more when they adopt them.  

Stereotypes about high powered leaders are persistent. For example, can you, off the top of your head, name a prominent female entrepreneur?  

If your mind has gone blank, or has immediately been filled with an image of one of several prominent male entrepreneurs, it’s not because of a lack of enterprising women, but because women struggle to capture the headlines in the way that their male counterparts do.  

While the cause of these biases are complex, an experiment I ran with colleagues was revealing. Investors were shown an identical business pitch – delivered either by a man or a woman.

When we calculated how much funding went to each side, it was the men who received the lion’s share, even though many of the investors in the research had previously stated a desire to invest in women.  

Why the imbalance? Traditional gender stereotypes, it appears, still reign strong.

Gender stereotypes in business leadership

These insights tally with research that reveals what we expect from different business leaders – among different styles of leadership, academics have identified the ‘communal’ and the ‘agentic’. 

Communal leaders prioritise relationships. They’ll spend time fostering them and gaining the trust of followers.

By contrast, agentic leaders are assertive, competitive, confident and goal-oriented. Does this ring any bells?  

To make a huge oversimplification, the communal leader – one who is nurturing, empathetic and inclusive - tends to conform with the Western female stereotype.

Meanwhile, the command-and-control agentic leader who strives to achieve and ‘gets things done’ is seen in the West as typically male.  

But leadership is evolving, and stereotypes are rarely accurate or helpful. Since the pandemic, employees expect their bosses to be more empathetic and supportive - a shift driven by better awareness of mental health and changing expectations of millennials and ‘Gen Z’.

Typically, they expect employers to support and prioritise their wellbeing more than previous generations, and they value a better work-life balance. They want to be able to discuss their career aspirations and have a productive relationship with their manager. A more communal style of leadership suits them better. 

In fact, businesses might be best served by a combination of both communal and agentic to a greater or lesser extent, according to the demands of the business climate and context.  

But it’s not straightforward. Male leaders are at more of an advantage than their female counterparts when it comes to mixing leadership styles. What do we mean? 

What do we expect of female leaders?

Research shows that when men adopt a strong ‘agentic’ leadership style, they are seen as conforming to gender stereotypes and are admired – they are seldom penalised for being a ‘strong’ leader.  

But when they adopt a softer, more collaborative – or communal – style at work, they are admired as empathetic and in touch – they get a boost for being communal.

Anecdotally, it’s the same as when a male colleague is praised for prioritising childcare over work - we tend to see this as a strength, but for women, this is taken for granted. 

In fact, expectations of women leaders are more exacting. Women are obliged to discover the right mix of agentic and communal in order to inspire confidence in their leadership abilities.  

If a female leader adopts the agentic masculine stereotype of being goal-driven and competitive, she will be seen as violating the gender norm and this will be unpopular.

However, a female leader cannot be only kind, caring, collaborative and so on, because business demands more of leaders – they must also demonstrate they can be tough, strong and decisive – in other words, conform to a male stereotype, to be accepted.  

These preconceptions and biases create a challenging climate for women at the top – how can they lead and still be authentic when expectations are so demanding?

It’s important we dispel these stereotypes for many reasons. We don’t want women to be at an inherent disadvantage – there are too few female role models and boardrooms are notoriously male. 

Equally it can feel constricting for men to conform to hackneyed versions of masculinity, and there is more overlap within genders than stereotypes allow.

How businesses benefit from communal leadership

A male leader can be someone who provides empathy, kindness and security. It might be that men ‘do’ communality in a slightly different – but equally beneficial - way.

And there are benefits to business for encouraging a more communal style of leadership. A less hierarchical and more open organisation can coax more from individuals. Communal leadership creates space for meaningful conversations among employees. It can nurture creativity and innovation, because employees feel safe. 

If an organisation has more communal leaders, employees will feel more willing to go above and beyond their job description to help colleagues and contribute to the smooth functioning of the organisation (we call this organisational citizenship behaviour).

For example, in the transition of a project, an employee will be less likely to ‘dump’ it on a colleague but will spend time handing over to ensure it will succeed – communal leadership encourages kindness and caring.  

Conversely a hierarchical culture might encourage individuals to be overly ambitious and think about their own advancement, without putting effort into helping one another.  

Communal leadership encourages greater loyalty, because employees feel managers care about them and have their best interests in mind. This is more productive than a cut-throat culture.

How is leadership changing?

These are nuanced changes and within any company you might find pockets of good practice. When change occurs, it’s typically accelerated by the needs of millennials and Gen Z in search of managers at work they can relate and talk to.

But it’s not something that can be imposed upon staff – change can’t be forced. Rather it relies upon a company communicating that it’s OK to be communal, and why this is beneficial. 

At the same time, we need to make it easier for women to be able to flex between communal and agentic leadership. Today women still need to discover how to hold the floor and be authoritative – if not, they won’t be heard. But if they don’t embrace the communal aspect, they will violate their gender norm.  

As a man you will be more successful if you embrace the communal aspect, but you are not obliged to do so.  

We need to make it easier for women to lead authentically and for men to adopt communal behaviours in leadership roles, and for this we need to promote strong role models to change entrenched beliefs.  

Further reading:

Six ways to increase inclusivity as a leader

Why are ambitious female founders punished by investors?

Seven key competencies for collaborative leadership

Three ways to keep staff engaged at work

Dawn Eubanks is Associate Professor of Behavioural Science and Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Warwick Business School. She teaches Leadership and Harnessing Diversity on the Global Online MBA, the Full Time MBA, and the Executive MBA, as well as Leadership Plus on the Full Time MBA and Leadership on the Executive MBA (London).

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