Success doesn’t make women less likeable, research finds
Does career success make women less likeable and men more
so? According to Sheryl Sandberg, who catapulted the "likeability
penalty" conversation into the spotlight with her career memoir Lean In,
the answer is yes. But research by leadership development consultants finds
this may not be the case.
According to Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman, women
essentially maintain the same level of perceived people skills and empathy
throughout their leadership careers, after a dip upon their first major
promotion from supervisor to middle manager.
They also found that men faced a similar initial
backlash, but didn't recover as women did.
Zenger and Folkman created a likeability index based on
the findings of their 360-degree feedback surveys. They compared the results of
9,500 male leaders and 5,000 female leaders on the questions such as: "Are
you/they truly concerned about developing others?" and "How well do
you balance getting results with others' needs?" This included the
leader's performance as scored by an average of 10 team members and managers.
They found that female supervisors had an average
likeability percentile score of 60 at supervisor level, which dropped to 55
upon their promotion to middle manager. Their likeability score then stayed
fairly level upon further promotions (56 at senior management and 55 at top
management).
Male supervisors had an average likeability percentile
score of 58, which dropped to 51 upon their promotion to middle manager. The average
score didn't recover, declining to 49 for senior and top management.
While this study finds that formal assessments of women's
soft skills, people management and perceived empathy recover, it doesn't
necessarily address the social and emotional backlash that co-workers may be
hesitant or unwilling to admit to in a professional review.
So it may be premature to dismiss Sandberg's suggestion
that a woman's likeability suffers with success just yet.
CBE India is a strategic partner to Zenger Folkman;
contact us to know more about 'The Extraordinary Leader’ program, visit @ www.deevoir.com
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