Why showing happiness as a female leader is a good thing

Leadership can be both rewarding and demanding in equal measure. In good organisations, as a leader you get support through development to enable you to do it well. Often that development focuses on how to lead from an intellectual perspective for example perhaps with an enterprise mindset, or to be strategic in perspective – if it’s really good it will help you to understand who you are as a person so that you can lead authentically but does that include showing emotions? And how are you perceived as a leader if you do?

Below I share some findings of recent research into perceptions of leaders who show emotions which has some interesting insights for female leaders.

Perceptions of leaders who show emotions

While generally it is a good thing to be your authentic self at work, does that cover showing your emotions as they arise or is some emotional management helpful? Research by Thomas Sy and Daan van Knippenberg published in June 2021 showed that there were key emotions, particularly when displayed by women, which affect others’ views of how effective they are at work.

In summary, the research showed that when women do NOT express the ‘negative’ emotions of anger, fear and remorse they are perceived as more effective at senior levels than men. In addition, women who express the emotion of ‘cheer’ are also perceived to be more effective than men. I suspect that we can all understand why anger and fear may not be perceived well – anger if not managed well can look like a lack of control and can create negative reactions. Fear may imply a lack of confidence of the leader and that can be disconcerting for team members.

Personally, I was slightly surprised to see ‘cheer’ identified … firstly, what does that actually mean?

Expressing the emotion of ‘cheer’

Interestingly, it is hard to find a clear definition as it depends on how the word is used but descriptions include a ‘lightness of mind or feeling’ when you have good cheer, ‘something that gladdens’ when someone issues words of cheer, and as a verb, ‘to make glad or happy’ and ‘to instill with hope or courage’. 

I find that rather encouraging in a time where it has been tough in the working world recently within the Covid era. Given that the ‘broaden and build’ theory of Barbara Fredrickson in the field of positive psychology says that positive emotions are like the “tiny engines of positive psychology” that drive personal growth and flourishing and that research has shown that experiencing such positive emotions with sufficient frequency and authenticity broadens our scope of attention, allowing us to become more open, flexible and accepting, it is perhaps not surprising after all that ‘cheer’ in a female leader might lead someone to see them as more effective.

So, not only is it good for you to feel and be happy in the workplace but if you are showing it in a way that positively ripples out to impact others, they’ll see you as a better leader.

Here are 3 quick tips to make sure you share the cheer:

1. Provide clarity on where your team are headed; giving them a vision of the future that they can impact will build hope and motivation
2. Is a team member feeling daunted about a task they need to complete, and you know that they can do it? Help them through coaching to overcome their limiting thoughts and provide them with check in support along the way so that they have the courage to give it a go
3. Make a habit of ‘gossiping success’ in your team meetings and in day to day interactions. Building a recognition habit and being specific about what you are recognising and why is a good way to build positive emotions in others .. just be sure to check how team members most prefer to be recognised -some would prefer a quiet 1-1 conversation over a team wide broadcast.

Wishing all leaders some good cheer and may it not only be perceived well by others but genuinely impact them for the better.