3 Gender-Neutral Leadership Traits You Should Screen For

In a highly competitive global marketplace, businesses must have a well-articulated leadership hiring program. And even more importantly, modern enterprises must thwart any gender bias when it comes to selecting the brightest minds. In this article, we discuss:

• Why women hold less than a quarter of senior roles across the world
• Three traits to look for when outlining a gender-neutral leadership hiring strategy 
• How technology can help remove stereotypes around gender and leadership 

The state of women in leadership has been an area of contention and debate for a while now. Despite rising awareness around diversity & inclusion (D&I), research suggests that the percentage of women in leadership positions is declining. From 25% in 2017, Grant Thornton found that in 2018, women held only 24% of senior rolesOpens a new window . 

What are the causes for this? Can HR proactively screen for gender-diverse leadership panels? How can tech help resolve the challenges around gender and leadership? Let’s find out. 

3 Reasons Why Men Continued to Be Preferred for Senior Positions 

While there are various causes of gender disparity in leadership roles,  three key issues continue to put men in a position of preference for leadership:

• The perception of what constitutes a good leader is often biased towards men. “Ambitious,” “confident,” and “strong” are terms usually associated with male leaders. 
• Women are more likely to be low in confidence when it comes to taking on positions of power. A study found that 75% of womenOpens a new window have experienced a “lack of confidence” at key moments in their careers. 
• The same study saw respondents using words like “undermining,” “jealous,” and “aggressive” to describe women, indicating that women get less support from other women in their organizations. 

However, the typical notion of an effective leader being “strong” or “ambitious” isn’t always applicable in the real world. Other gender-neutral traits define effective leadershipOpens a new window , and these are the factors you should be looking at when outlining a hiring strategy. 

Learn More: Beating Gender Stereotypes: Women in STEMOpens a new window

3 Gender-Neutral Traits to Consider When Hiring Candidates for Leadership Roles 

The challenge begins at the first touchpoint with candidates – your job ad. While entry-level or frontline positions require a specific set of hard skills, leadership is a far more strategic area. 

The job ad cannot only list qualifications, certifications, and mandatory experience. However, when writing job ads to hire leaders, organizations often make the mistake of using bias-friendly terminology. This can deter female candidates from applying in the first place. 

That’s why you should incorporate the following three traits a) when advertising for leadership roles, and b) when screening candidates. 

1. Is the individual honest? 

Integrity is the top trait to ensure when hiring leaders. They will be responsible for guiding your enterprise, leading it into the future while maintaining a solid ethical foundation. 

At a time when compliance is essential for long-term organizational profitability, any leader, when screened for a strategic role, must carry a spotless record.

AI-based screening solutions that use facial recognition technology can help you accurately assess candidate integrity levels and are known to avoid gender bias. Companies such as Unilever, IBM, and Dunkin’ Donuts are already using this technology Opens a new window to evaluate candidates. 

2. Has the candidate demonstrated (emotional) intelligence? 

As a personality trait, intelligence can be challenging to assess. It doesn’t just imply a person’s expertise in a particular subject or understanding of a product. A good leader brings excellent reasoning skills, must be able to resolve conflicts with ease, and be eager to innovate – all of which together make up “intelligence.” 

But intelligence isn’t only about logic and reasoning. It also requires a degree of emotive capacity and a strong sense of empathy. This is why recruiters when hiring leaders, must also consider emotional intelligenceOpens a new window – selecting a candidate who can strategize while understanding the inherent human factors that guide the decision-making process.

Virtual reality (VR) is an excellent way to assess emotional intelligence. You place a candidate in different real-world simulations and gauge how they react to various situations, crises, and pressure scenarios. This will remove any uncertainty or bias (unconscious, gender/race-oriented) and ensure that your future leader is equipped to take on a range of challenges.

3. How efficient is the candidate at decision-making?

Contrary to popular belief, intelligence and decision-making capabilities don’t always go together. A good leader should be able to think on their feet, willing to take risks, and accept the consequences of poor decision-making if required.

This is why it’s so important to evaluate a leader’s – regardless of gender, experience, or even intelligence – ability to quickly respond to developing situations. The candidate must also be able to plan ahead, foreseeing the next bend on the road and preparing the organization for regular transformation.

There are AI-powered screening tools available that make it easier to gauge a person’s decisiveness. A good example is HarverOpens a new window , which includes situational judgment tests as well as realistic job previews to measure leadership readiness. 

Learn More: Can Artificial Intelligence Eliminate Bias in Hiring?Opens a new window

How Tech Can Help You Go Beyond Preconceived Notions Around Gender and Leadership

In the current dynamic business landscape, it’s time to let go of legacy ideas around what makes a good leader. Research has reaffirmed Opens a new window that the most valued leadership traits are gender-neutral – 84% of professionals rank honesty as the top trait, with intelligence and decisiveness both coming in at a close second at 80%. And while each of these traits can be traditionally characterized as more male than female and vice versa, it’s time to break out of these notions.

Instead of linking these qualities with a specific gender, technology helps to debunk stereotypes and take more accurate hiring decisions. Remember, leadership hiring may not witness the same degree of automation as high-volume recruitment.

So, HR tech should be applied to test for specific skills, personality traits, and cultural fit after promising candidates have been shortlisted. Top areas that you should look at include:

• Psychometric testsOpens a new window , which offer a detailed and unbiased profile of the candidate’s personality 
• Mixed reality solutions, Opens a new window which create an immersive digital environment to see how these traits play out in the real world 
• Advanced analytics, which evaluates successful leaders at your organization and benchmarks potential candidates against these proven parameters

There’s no denying the truth: a company’s most precious resource is its people. And its leaders are the foundational pillars of its continued success and future expansion possibilities. This is why it is vital to remove any bias or prejudice from hiring initiatives. Instead, by opening up the recruitment arena to fresh voices across gender, you can create a vibrant, innovative leadership team.

Is your leadership recruitment program gender-sensitive? Share your thoughts with us on FacebookOpens a new window , LinkedInOpens a new window , or TwitterOpens a new window . We would love to hear from you!