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Using Influence to Gain Commitment: Are Men and Women Really That Different?

Guest post by: Richard Lepsinger

Article Overview: Do men and women lead differently in the workplace? Based on much of the research, the short answer is “yes.” Although the differences often align with the stereotype that women lead with a more interpersonal style and men with a more task-oriented style, it appears that gender does play a role in leadership style and preferences.

Using Influence to Gain Commitment: Are Men and Women Really That Different?

Because a leader's success often depends on his or her ability to gain the support and cooperation of people who frequently have competing priorities or conflicting goals, we wanted to understand what gender differences, if any, exist in how leaders use influence. To help answer this question, I used a 360° feedback questionnaire to collect data on the influencing skills of 223 leaders (116 men and 107 women) across organizations and industries. While the data pointed to some significant differences in the approaches men and women use to gain others' buy in and support, we also uncovered some surprising similarities. Following is a summary of our findings.

Most Effective Influence Tactics

Our previous research on influence identified 11 influence tactics used by the most effective managers. We then grouped these tactics according to their effectiveness in gaining others' support and commitment-most effective, moderately effective, and least effective tactics. The four tactics that are most effective in gaining commitment from others include Rational Persuasion, Inspirational Appeals, Consultation, and Collaboration.

So, do men and women use the most effective tactics to the same extent? Based on the leaders we studied, we found that two of the tactics, Rational Persuasion and Collaboration, are used to the same extent by both men and women.

Rational Persuasion (providing logical arguments and factual evidence to show that a request or proposal is feasible and relevant for important task objectives) is the most frequently used tactic (out of 11 possible tactics) by both men and women when influencing bosses, colleagues, and direct reports. There is no significant difference between men and women in the use of this tactic. Behaviors such as explaining why a requested task is necessary, explaining why a proposed change or project will be cost effective, and providing evidence that a proposed activity will be successful are used to an equal extent by both men and women.

We also found that Collaboration (offering to provide relevant resources or assistance if the person will carry out a request or implement a proposed change) is among the more frequently used tactics by both men and women, and both genders use the behaviors associated with this tactic to the same extent with bosses, colleagues, and direct reports. Examples of these behaviors include: offering to show a person how to do the requested task, offering to help a person do the task, and offering to provide resources needed to do the task.

The take away? These findings are somewhat surprising if you believe that men lead with a more task-oriented focus and women with a more interpersonal approach. If this were the case, you'd expect to find that men use Rational Persuasion (a logical, data oriented tactic) more frequently, and women use Collaboration (a more relationship oriented tactic) more frequently. However, our study found no differences between men and women in the use of these two tactics.

There are, however, some significant differences between men and women in the use of the other two most effective tactics: Inspirational Appeals and Consultation.

Although Inspirational Appeals (appealing to a person's values, ideals, or emotions or generating enthusiasm) was among the top five most frequently used tactics by both men and women overall (out of a possible 11 tactics), we found that women use Inspirational Appeals significantly more frequently than men with colleagues and direct reports. With bosses, however, men and women use Inspirational Appeals to the same extent. Examples of behaviors associated with Inspirational Appeals include: describing a clear, inspiring vision, or making an inspiring presentation to arouse enthusiasm for a proposed activity or change.

While Consultation (asking a person to suggest improvements to a proposal or to help plan a proposed activity or change) was among the more frequently used tactics by both men and women overall, we found that women use Consultation significantly more frequently than men when influencing bosses and direct reports. With colleagues, however, men and women use Consultation to the same extent. Examples of behaviors associated with Consultation include: asking for ideas to improve a preliminary plan or proposal, or encouraging the person to express any concerns about a proposed change or new initiative.

The take away? Given that female leaders are often described as having a more participative, inspirational management style than men, you would expect to find that women use Inspirational Appeals and Consultation more often than men across the board. However, we found no difference between men and women in the use of Inspirational Appeals with bosses and no difference in the use of Consultation with colleagues.

Inspirational Appeals is generally less effective with bosses than it is with colleagues and direct reports, and it appears that both men and women recognize this. Women, however, better leverage this tactic with their colleagues and direct reports, and men may not be taking full advantage of this tactic.

Both men and women often rely on Consultation when influencing colleagues; however, men may be missing opportunities to use this tactic with their direct reports. Consultation is especially appropriate when the influencer has the authority to plan a task or make a change, but relies on the other person to help carry out the work or implement the change. The authority to assign work and make changes is greatest in a downward direction and least in an upward direction. This suggests that while women use Consultation effectively with direct reports, they may be at risk of overusing this tactic with their bosses.

Moderately Effective and Least Effective Tactics

For the most part, men and women use the moderately effective and the least effective tactics to the same extent. There are, however, some interesting differences between men and women:

Women use Apprising (explaining how carrying out a request or supporting a proposal will benefit the person personally or will help to advance the person's career) significantly more with direct reports than men use this tactic. On the other hand, men use Apprising significantly more than women when influencing their bosses. Women may have the edge here because Apprising is one of the tactics that is not typically effective in upward influence attempts (it is most effective with colleagues and direct reports).

Women use Ingratiating (using praise and flattery before or during an influence attempt) significantly more than men when influencing their colleagues and direct reports.

Women use Legitimating (establishing the legitimacy of a request or verifying that you have the authority to make it) significantly more than men when influencing colleagues. Interestingly, we also found that Legitimating was one of the top five most frequently used tactics overall by both men and women.

Since Legitimating is one of the least effective tactics and should only be used when your authority is questioned or when you are joining a group who is not aware of your expertise and track record, our study suggests that managers (particularly female managers) may be at risk of overusing this tactic. That woman use Legitimating more than men may be an indication that women feel their authority is being challenged more often or they have to work harder to demonstrate their competence.

Conclusions

Overall, we found more similarities than differences between male and female leaders when it comes to gaining others' support and commitment to plans, proposals, and ideas. Most of the gender differences we identified involve influence attempts with colleagues and direct reports, suggesting that both men and women use very similar approaches when making upward influence attempts.

Some of the gender differences we identified in this study are consistent with the conventional thinking that female leaders tend to focus more on relationships and male leaders tend to focus more on the task or end result. For example, we found that women use the "softer" tactics of Inspirational Appeals, Consultation, Apprising, and Ingratiating more frequently than men. These four tactics all involve a high degree of interpersonal skills and relationship savvy, which is consistent with the theory that women are more "in touch" with the relationship side of leadership.

However, other findings from this study are less consistent with the theory that women use a more participative management style and men use a more results driven style. For example, both men and women use Collaboration to the same extent and both men and women use Consultation to the same extent with colleagues. We also found that men and women use the tactic of Pressure (using demands, threats, warnings, or frequent check ins) to the same degree.

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Article Tags: gender differences, influence, leaders, women influence



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