How women leaders can create a more efficient workplace

The people have spoken – according to various studies, women make great leaders. Mansi P. Joshi, PhD, led a study in 2022 that found women leaders are perceived as more fair than men by default. Also, Eagly’s 1992 meta-analysis revealed that women are more likely to use transformational leadership styles than men – an article that’s stood on its own for over three decades! So, how can women use positions of leadership to increase workplace efficiency?

Let’s look at how women can help their employees become more productive and efficient in their everyday work – and the tools they’ll need.

Be persistent

Don’t give up – and in the workplace, women leaders have to show incredible fortitude to foster change. This is especially true of efficiency. A good leader needs to be passionate about what they do and show genuine interest in their employees, regardless of gender.

However, it can be challenging to inspire change in a male-dominated workplace. To start to create change involves encouraging men and other genders to advocate for equality at work, from changing policies for parental leave and child care to leading by example.

The persevering women in leadership roles also need to pull up a chair to the table, whether offered or not. Self-advocacy is absolutely important. Express your ideas and seek opportunities to showcase them.

It also is important to take the time to understand your strengths and to build personal resilience. You never know how far you’ll go!

Embrace new technology and ideas

Women who rise to leadership in almost all industries benefit from a healthy attitude to technology – and a healthy attitude to change and growth, period.

The technology available to businesses currently is always evolving with efficiency in mind. For example, leaders will do well to consider tools such as virtual numbers, which allow them to set up business lines anywhere in the world, appealing to an international audience.

There’s also the rise of VoIP, or voice over internet protocol, in the UK, in particular. This technology is the next big step in business phone systems – it allows employees to conduct voice calls over the Internet. As a result, it’s gradually phasing out traditional telephony.

Women leaders who embrace technology will show their employees they commit to finding ways to improve efficiency and productivity at work. Creating better workflows involves using tech.

By removing some of the technological stumbling blocks left behind by outdated software, for example, leaders can build a forward-thinking, progressive, highly reactive team that’s always ready to bounce from challenge to challenge.

Open up communication

Women in business who open up communication between management and employees will frequently find it easier to get to the bottom of problems that could be bottleneck efficiency. For example, management might make assumptions about what’s driving down productivity in any given business – but what if they actually talk with the people running their enterprise to find out if that assumption is correct or not?

Leaders should always be willing to offer “open door” policies to their staff. That means employees don’t feel scared about approaching their supervisors for help.

Furthermore, opening up round table discussions online is another great way to ensure people’s voices are heard and ideas are shared. Breaking down communication barriers is key to digging into problems that might be slowing processes down.

Embrace flexibility in the workplace

Finally, a boss who embraces flexibility cares about the well-being of their staff and understands how it can affect productivity and efficiency in general. This is an age where more and more folks work from home. Therefore, it pays to draw up flexible working schedules that fit the range of lifestyles and needs of people developing products and delivering services.

You don’t have to go “fully” remote to bring sweeping changes to efficiency. However, meeting people halfway and understanding what you can do to make work more enjoyable and achievable for them will go a long way to boost efficiency as it bolsters satisfaction levels.

Always keep developing

If there’s one thing for women leaders to keep in mind if they’re in the process of boosting their workplace efficiency, it’s that a healthy attitude to growth is everything – there’s simply no chance of progress if you’re standing still.

By embracing technology, being more communicative with your employees, and opening up flexible working, you can make the workplace more efficient. To grow your business beyond boosting efficiency alone, look at these additional business tips!