Engaging female employees: An identification of the skills needed to effectively lead female employees

This study has two primary goals: first, to determine if there are skills and competencies a leader must utilize if female employees are going to be optimally engaged and motivated in the work place; second, to identify what those skills and competencies are and to develop a 360 feedback tool that is designed to identify whether or not a leader or potential leader displays these skills and competencies. A survey of employee\u27s views of what qualities are most to least important in a manager was administered, and analysis of the survey data found that there were clear differences between what the men and women found more important in a manager. These results were then used to develop a 360 feedback instrument targeting those leadership skills most valued by female employees. The 360 feedback tool was field tested on a sample of managers from within HSBC Bank Bermuda Limited. Factor analysis revealed 8 factors, each with high reliability. Managers who were assessed with the tool were perceived by the respondents as collectively performing well in the areas of open communication, caring about staff, and promoting teamwork. Using ANOVA, only four significant gender differences between managers were identified on the multi-rater tool. These results suggest that the gender of a manager does not predict whether they will be a good leader of female employees. Thus, tools like the 360 survey developed in this study are necessary to identify good leaders of female employees