Servant leadership has come a long way since Robert Greenleaf first popularized the term in the 1970s, and while it’s probably fair to say it is still not the predominant view of how leaders should be, it is growing in popularity.

Whereas societal stereotypes still portray men as more natural leaders, a new study from the University of Buffalo suggests that women may be more effective servant leaders.

“When people think of a strong leader, many people subconsciously picture a man because of persistent stereotypes of men as commanding and goal-focused,” the researchers say. “Meanwhile, because they’re seen as more caring and people-focused, women have always faced a disadvantage—or outright discrimination—as leaders.”

A different type of leader

Servant leaders come with altogether different expectations however, as they’re supposed to prioritize their team (and indeed their wider community) and empower their team to do the best they can.  There’s strong evidence to suggest that employees generally prefer working under such a leader, and their performance improves as a result.

The researchers wanted to explore whether this apparent preference for servant leaders removed much of the unconscious bias that sees us regard men as more natural leaders.

They analyzed over 100 leaders and over 400 employees from six organizations, with the aim of identifying the servant leadership qualities on a sliding scale, alongside the performance and gender make-up of their teams.

As previous research has shown, the data revealed that servant leaders not only inspired greater performance from their team, but also encouraged servant leadership qualities in them.  What was perhaps most interesting, however, is that women leaders proved more effective in this than their male peers.

“As followers began acting like servant leaders, they became more engaged, proactive and productive—and women were better than men at sparking that change,” the researchers say. “Research consistently shows that gender stereotypes give men a leadership advantage. Here, those same stereotypes finally give women an edge.”

The authors believe that their findings should prompt organizations to provide servant leadership training as a fundamental part of any professional development programs, but especially those programs aimed at women in the workforce.  While they accept that the benefits could be weighed more towards industries such as healthcare and education, which are heavily people-centric, they believe the impact could be felt across all sectors.

“While the positive effects of servant leadership are undeniable, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution,” they conclude. “But, for women who have struggled with gendered expectations of leaders, servant leadership may be an ideal style to invert and overcome those stereotypes.”