When looking for examples of true leadership during the COVID-19 crisis it is hard to ignore gender-based comparisons. A new study has revealed that women in senior leadership roles could be crucial to how Australia emerges from the COVID-19 crisis and into recovery.

LEADERSHIP STYLES IN QUESTION

When looking for examples of true leadership during the COVID-19 crisis it is hard to ignore gender-based comparisons. Let’s contrast for one moment the country leadership of New Zealand with say that of the United Kingdom or Germany with The United State of America or maybe Iceland with Brazil. Female leaders of these countries who have stepped up with a highly attractive alternative leadership style to their male counterparts.

These female leaders, have leadership skills which are built on trust, bringing people together – not highlighting differences, empathy, resourcefulness, being proactive and preventing crises or keeping them from getting worse.

When you observe Ardern, Merkel and Jakobsdóttir, you easily recognise authentic and effective communicators, they are honest and transparent. They build teams, take responsibility and own the facts. All important characteristics for any leader, male or female. Leadership which positively promotes diversity and inclusion.

Are these skills and traits which come more ‘naturally’ to women as some have observed?

A new study has revealed that women in senior leadership roles could be crucial to how Australia emerges from the COVID-19 crisis and into recovery.

The report, Gender Equity Insights 2020: Delivering on Business Outcomes, revealed a strong correlation between an increase in the number of women in key decision-making positions and improvements in company performance.

The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) report found that an increase of 10 percent or more in the share of females in senior executive roles would contribute to a 6.6 percent increase in the market value of Australian ASX-listed companies. This increase was worth the equivalent of $104.7 million.

When businesses are looking to a post-COVID-19 world, much in the same way as the comparisons between government leaders, the research shows that having a female CEO, and a greater share of females in senior roles, has the potential to help companies not only navigate through the crisis but to come out the other side in a stronger position.

The report went further, finding that in Australian ASX-listed companies, having a female CEO led to a 5 percent increase in their market value. This is worth the equivalent of $79.6 million on average. These companies also had a 12.9 percent increase in the likelihood of outperforming the sector on three or more key performance and profitability metrics.

Understanding how you can improve the performance of your business post COVID-19 should see a focus on work measures and practices which deliver more gender equitable workplaces; flexibility, support for working parents, sponsoring emerging leaders etcetera.

Contrary to this report, other data continues to show that Australian companies are lagging behind when it comes to female representation in leadership roles. Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) reporting from 31 May 2020 shows:

• The latest percentage of women on ASX 200 boards is 30.9 percent, up only 1.2 percentage points over the last two years; and

• A total of five boards in the ASX 200 still do not have any women.

Other reporting shows that only 14.1 percent of board chairs as being filled by women. On top of this, only 17.1 percent of CEOs are women.

The Gender Equity Insights 2020 report, which looks at a wider cross section of organisations than the ASX 200, also found disturbingly that 29.8 percent of companies have no female representation on their board and a similar proportion of companies have no women in their key management teams.

LOOKING AHEAD

Looking further afield, over the last 5 years, McKinsey&Co and LeanIn.Org have been conducting annual research on women in the workplace globally.

The most recent report from late 2019, shows a direct correlation between those organisations which have greater female representation in senior leadership positions and their performance when measured against performance indicators such as sustainability, growth and innovation. They consistently outperform other companies that do not promote diversity and inclusion.

Of course, the best gender equality intervention is to focus on equality of talent and potential — and that only happens when we have gender-equal leadership to enable men to learn different leadership approaches from women as much as women do from men. A recent Harvard Business Review article on the leadership lessons men can learn from women is well worth reading HERE

With the pages of our history books being rewritten on a daily basis, as the Global tragedy of COVID-19 continues to accelerate (seemingly for everyone else other than Australia and New Zealand) this may well prove to be the ultimate case study in what quality leadership looks like.

All leaders, including us men, can learn from what we have seen women do in this crisis. I’m sure most will agree that Boris, Donald and Jair have a lot to learn from their female counterparts.

Oh, and for the record, women hold only 7 percent of the world's government leadership roles.