The gender agenda

23/11/2012

Are there intrinsic differences between men and women? If so, what are they and how should that influence our approach to leadership, coaching and OD? For instance, what are the consequences of leadership teams that are all male or all female? What are the costs and benefits of a greater gender mix? How does culture influence notions of gender and role in organisations? How (if at all) as leader, coach or consultant should we modify our approach according the gender(s) of the person or team we’re working with? I would love to hear your thoughts, including examples from your own experience!

22 Comments

Filao Wilson link

23/11/2012 07:18:10 am

Hi Nick, interesting post. In my experience, it's not the intrinsic differences that have most implications for leadership coaching and OD, but rather the different gender experiences of progression in the workplace. For example, women tend to be the ones who take career breaks in their late twenties and early thirties, just when they are reaching the point of breaking through into very senior levels of management. Women who return to the workplace after a family career break often have to start career building again from a lower rung on the ladder. I have heard male executives discussing leadership potential of individuals in a mixed male and female group of manager, commenting that "if she's any good, how come she isn't higher up the ladder now she's in her mid thirties". the answer which was obvious to me but not to them was that women's career histories tend to be different, they take career breaks then they make interesting sideways moves and take longer overall to get into top positions.

Nick Wright

23/11/2012 12:49:29 pm

Hi Filao and thanks for the note. The issue you have identified is certainly a common one. It begs the question of what kind and length of experience organisations demand for senior positions and, OD-wise, whether the assumptions that lie behind that demand are open to question. It also begs questions of how much value existing senior leaders place on having women, or gender diversity, at the top table.

Some leaders seem to view and dismiss this argument as 'political correctness' whereas others may take a more pragmatic view, e.g. enabling women to qualify for senior positions creates a broader pool of talent to draw from, or diversity in the top team enhances innovation potential. In the latter cases, organisations take steps to enable talented returning women to succeed, e.g. by offering mentoring programmes or flexible working patterns.

I would be interested to hear of any examples you have used or seen to address this issue in practice. With best wishes. Nick

Filao Wilson link

24/11/2012 11:43:41 am

Hi Nick
My experience in the NHS over several years was mostly that enabling women to qualify for senior positions created a broader pool of talent to draw from, as you put it - the pragmatic approach. This was aided by having a large pool of senior women to draw from, remembering that it's hard to generalize about the NHS because it is a loose affiliation of hundreds of very different organisations and contractors. I was lucky enough to work for organisations that treated women as part of that large pool of talent usually on an equal footing especially over the last twenty years.

Nick Wright

24/11/2012 09:16:26 pm

Hi Filao and thanks for your comments. It's encouraging to hear of your positive experiences. I'm curious. What do you think the key factors were, beyond building a talent pool, that influenced the way in which women were treated in the organisations you worked with, e.g. in contrast to other organisations where women are not treated equally? I would be interested to hear your reflections on this. With best wishes. Nick

Filao Wilson link

25/11/2012 06:35:36 am

Hi Nick, this has got me thinking back, and it's mostly subjective impressions as I don't have hard evidence to hand for this. I worked in health authorities where women were well represented in non-executive board positions and had been very successful in their own professional and business lives, so I think this set the tone in the organisations I was in.
At around this time there were also national and regional campaigns in the NHS to get more women into senior management positions and into medical and surgical consultants jobs, at a time when women surgeons in particular were quite a rare breed.
So overall, there was a convergence of local regional and national awareness that the talent pool had been too narrow until then ( i.e. male) - coupled with an influx of highly educated and vocal younger women with high expectations of equal treatment.

Jane Lewis link

25/11/2012 03:22:39 pm

Hi nick, I tend to agree with Filao. Of course it depends what you mean by intrinsic. I have been career coaching now for bat 15 years, and have many examples of intelligent (etc) women who eventually left the corporate sector because they didn't get the opportunities they hoped for or because the corporate life (including public and charities) didn't fit with family or with their beliefs.

There is plenty of research indicating that female talent disappears at middle management level, and you have to ask why. And why the proportion of some on UK and US Boards is so low.

Nick Wright

2/12/2012 12:37:16 pm

Hi Jane and thanks for the note. I agree that women more than men tend to take career breaks and that there are relatively few women holding senior leadership positions. It raises important questions about what this represents in terms of loss to organisations. If the loss can be captured and represented in convincing terms, it may increase the likelihood of organisations taking more proactive and innovative steps to attract and retain women to senior positions. The tricky part is, I guess, that since so many existing senior postholders at board and exective level are men, part of the challenge is to ensure the argument is presented in terms they find convincing and compelling enough to spur them into action. What do you think? With best wishes. Nick

Bridget

26/11/2012 01:00:05 pm

Hi Nick

Fantastic topic!

Most of my musings on this topic have been around leadership more than OD or coaching, mainly fuelled by my own leadership journey.

After being in a leadership position for a few years, I realized that leadership was tough and lonely (albeit a privilege!). I began to wonder if it was harder for a woman to lead than a man. I didn't seem to fit the high visibility, rally the troops, control and command type of leadership and was more considered, sensitive & fearful than other leaders around me seemed to be. Most, but not all, of these were men.

So, I decided to ask a few women in leadership whom I respected some questions around their leadership to help me discern whether women faced different leadership challenges to men.

Interestingly nearly all of them said that they hadn’t been seeking a leadership position. They had either “fallen into it” or started a business/ministry and therefore became the leader of it. They became leaders because they were passionate about a cause or wanted to enable others. Others saw “leadership” in them rather than them seeing it for themselves.

They all mentioned that relationships were very important to them & because of this they often got knocked hard when conflict arises.

Loneliness was another significant issue, particularly when other female leaders were few and far between in their context. Several of them also mentioned the importance of being supported by a significant male other, eg husband, father, boss or friend.

Finally, they all said something like – know who you are, be who you are and count the cost.

I guess I should really ask a few of my male leader friends the same questions to see if they come up with similar or different issues!

Nick Wright

2/12/2012 12:54:30 pm

Hi Bridget. Thanks for sharing such an honest personal journey and the profound insights you have gained through it. One of the things that struck me in your reflections was how models of leadership are often essentially 'male' models, extolling the kinds of characteristics you described.

Insofar as leaders are selected and evaluated against these characteristics, it can prove difficult for women to succeed or be perceived to succeed against them. On the face of it, one could challenge whether these leadership behaviours are more effective than those that might be developed and displayed by women.

One of the complicating factors is that it depends on what assumptions organisations and society as a whole already hold about what constitutes 'success', both in leadership and in organisations. It's as if the whole social paradigm of leadership needs to be questioned and explored.

I was also struck by the emphasis you placed on relationships in leadership, including female peer relationships, or corresponding feelings of loneliness where these are absent. I wonder if the gradual shift in organisations from the cult of the individual 'hero' to collaborative leadership approaches will open fresh opportunities.

I would be interested to hear any further reflections you have on this. I liked your final comment: know who you are, be who you are and count the cost. With best wishes. Nick

Filao Wilson link

3/12/2012 04:40:14 am

Hi All I am enjoying this discussion and it reminds me of Beverley Alimo Metcalfs work on transactional vs. transformative leadership styles and how women in leadership tend towards the latter. This work goes back quite a few years but it's as relevant now as it ever was.

Christopher Weber-Fürst

4/12/2012 04:02:12 am

5 good reasons “Why women means business” 1. Women make 80% of consumer goods purchasing decisions. 2. They represent most of the talent - women represent 60% of university graduates in Europe and North America. 3. Linked to profitability - companies with the most women in leadership outperform those with the fewest. 4. Demographic challenges - countries that facilitate women in work enjoy higher birth rates and higher growth, opening doors to tomorrow's talent. 5. Companies that adapt to women are better prepared for the new workforce, younger generations, diversity and innovation.

I have developed a Female Talent Management Program and if you wnat to know more please get in touch.

See also: http://www.changingpeople.co.uk/2011/why-cant-women-speak-their-minds-in-boardrooms/

Kind regards

Christopher

Nick Wright

8/12/2012 07:11:33 am

Hi Christopher and thanks for the comments. I think your '5 good reasons' present a very compelling case for taking the women in leadership issue and challenge seriously. I also liked the link and forwarded it to a colleague working on these issues in her own organisation, dominated by male colleagues. She fed back that she could certainly identify with the experiences expressed in the blog and has forwarded it to other women in her leadership network. With thanks and best wishes. Nick

Christopher Weber-Fürst

9/12/2012 12:36:33 pm

Dear Nick and thanks a lot for your invitation and you nice words. I am very greatful for your support and I will continue my work for a more gender balanced working life. This work is my passion so to connect to other men who has this on their agenda is really encouraging.

Christopher Weber-Fürst

9/12/2012 12:38:44 pm

A ship owner is Switzerland with 126 employess? 121 of them women?

The Swiss ship-owner, Rene Mägli, who owns the second largest freight shipping company in the world, MSC bases in Basel, has 126 employees. 121 of them are women. Why? Read more:

Mägli says he is no ideologist and not a feminist, he is a businessman and he is convinced that women are better for his business. He has customers all over the world and his business is growing with 15.20 percent every year. He calls his employees “Ladies” and says”Women serve the case, men power”. Women are more communicative and cost conscious. They are better at prioritizing, they like to work in teams and they don’t waste their time on power struggle. Therefore all the executives are women, except for him.

It was not always like this. He started his business in 1981 and employed both men and women. At some point, he discovered that the women, no matter how well they did their job, did not make it further. He started to look for an explanation and found that it was the men that slowed down the career path for their female colleagues.

Mägli says he leads his Ladies different, because women want to be lead differently with less hierarchy and more freedom. One third of his employees work part time and many of them share the job between them. After 19:00 hour, nobody is in the office and when a woman comes back after birth she decides when she wants to start working again and almost all of them come back.

Some years ago Mägli did a survey among his employees and the result was that43% of the women wanted more male colleagues. However, the longer women have worked at MSC in Basel, the less they miss the men.

Nick Wright

11/12/2012 12:06:09 am

Hi Christopher and thanks for sharing such a fascinating case study.

I found it interesting how Mägli noticed different general characteristics of women leaders and wider employees to those he noticed in men. It was striking too that his motivation for employing more women than men was pragmatic and business-results orientated, rather than an underlying ethical or ideological concern.

It made me wonder about a number of questions, e.g. what kinds of businesses and cultures are more likely to succeed depending on whether they are populated by men or women; what are the downsides as well as upsides of an organisation dominated by a large majority of men or, in this case, women.

I noticed how many of Mägli's employees worked part-time. I feel convinced that one reason why so many organisations have so few women in senior positions is because of their rigid work patterns, or working demands on leaders that allow little space and time to fulful wider life aspirations and commitments.

With thanks again. Very thought-provoking. Nick

Bridget

14/12/2012 08:38:21 am

Hi Christopher

I have been following your comments and interaction with Nick with interest.

I am working in an organisation which currently has a male-dominated leadership and would love to hear more about your female talent management programme.

I also have two questions for you, prompted by your comment above.

1) In Magli's view, how did the women want to be lead?
2) How had the men slowed down the career path for their female colleagues?

I'm wondering what part men need and want to play in encouraging more women leaders...

With many thanks, Bridget

Christopher link

20/12/2012 11:23:23 am

Hi Bridget and thanks for your interset. Here's a short overwiev of my Female Talent Management Program:

-To enhance interaction between women and men are key for successful business, because it increases efficiency, better utilization of the individual and the integral potential and supports better employee branding.

-To base gender projects on factual and relevant challenges for the company.

-To align all activities in the program with the strategic goals and ethical standards of the organization.

-To support the alikeness of women and men as well as their differences.

-To create a broad commitment and team spirit through good and geographical spread measures.

-To contribute to create the future influx of new, competent staff (Employer Branding).

To your questions:

1.He says they have to motivated and be told that they are better. You have to change the organization so that they can work how they want.
2.They established the Glass Ceiling and did not give the women a chanche to make a career.

The most important part of succeeding in implementing a Female Talent Management Program or letting woman enter top executive management levels, is that it has to be holeheartidly supported by the CEO. He has to explain why he/she wants to do it, he has to be the role model and walk the talk. when it is done the right way it has only positive effects:

When done the right way it leads to:

1. The company earns more money or is more effective when the frame conditions are adjusted to the needs of women

2. More women in the top management lead to more diversity. More diversity leads to more innovation, to a better basis for taking better decisions and better turnover

3.They employer branding increases

4.This leads to the attraction of the best talents, both women and men. What we see from demographics, is that there will be a huge lack of people to fill the vacant positions created in the near future. The greatest challenge for HR departments these days is to meet this challenge and compete for the best talents which are women.

5. The new young generation, Generation Y, who has learned that women and men are equally much worth and chooses a partner with the same approach to the work – life balance has:
- Children who performs better at school
- They have less psychological problems
- Less diseases
- And more and better sex
- The understanding of self in work life creates a new future
- It develops new regimes and abilities to master both private and business lives
- Creates sustainability in the sense that one can affect ones own future
- Choose workplace according to values based reflection and interest
- This integrated perspective leads to better interaction
- And leads to new ideals, to the feeling of safety and freedom

Nick Wright

20/12/2012 11:11:04 pm

I was speaking with a female friend and a female colleague in another organisation recently who had been invited to speak with that organisation's top team (all male) about how to increase gender diversity in leadership. We discussed various ways in which she could approach the meeting and the following ideas emerged:

She could invite the team to think back to a life experience where, as individuals, they felt in a minority, unheard, struggling to make themselves understood, misinterpreted because of what they said or how they expressed themselves. This could be e.g. a holiday overseas within a different language and culture. Then she would invite them to reflect on how it felt, drawing links with how women sometimes feel in all-male environments.

We also wondered how she might structure a conversation with the team in such a way that they would engage with it and that could motivate sufficient energy to overcome its previous passivity and inertia on this issue. We framed a number of possible questions:

1. It’s a fact that the organisation has very few women in senior leadership positions, but is it a problem? If so, what is the nature of the problem? Who or what does it affect and how? What is lost by having so few women in senior leadership positions? What would be the benefits of having more women in senior leadership positions? On a scale of 1-10, how big/important an issue is it?

2. What would it look and feel like to be part of a more balanced leadership team? What would it be like at its best? (Think back to mixed-gender experiences from the past or in other areas of life and what was/is good about them). What would it focus its attention on? How would its meetings and behaviour be different to how they are currently? How would others experience its leadership? How would it enhance the top team's performance and credibility?

3. What do women in the organisation believe about senior leadership opportunities in that organisation? If they were asked off-line in advance of the top team meeting, ‘What do you believe would it take for you to be appointed as a senior leader here?’ and ‘What do you believe it would demand of you, as a woman, to be successful in senior leadership here?’, what would they say?

4. How do women in the organisation feel about the fact that everyone on the top team is male? What do they notice about the culture of the senior leadership as primarily male groups, e.g. what they focus on, how they deal with people and issues, how decisions are taken? How do they believe it would be different at the organisation if there were a greater proportion of women in leadership positions?

5. What do women in the organisation believe would make senior leadership positions more attractive or workable for them? What do they believe it would take to attract and retain talented women to such positions (e.g. flexible working, different leadership culture).

6. What would men in the organisation feel about a greater gender mix at senior leadership levels? What would they look for from women that could be different to what they would look for from men? How, if at all, do they believe it would benefit the leadership/organisation to have more women in such positions? How big an issue is this for them?

7. How would it be if the annual staff survey invited people to indicate their gender so that different gender experiences and aspirations could be segmented? This would provide opportunity for signalling interest and commitment in this area, raising awareness, monitoring trends, targeting interventions and tracking changes.

One of the biggest obstacles I have found with some organisations has been the fatalistic mindset (including in HR) that, ‘Every time we advertise a job, the best candidates all turn out to be men’, without critical thinking about ‘why is that?’ or ‘what would it take to attract, recruit and retain more talented women?’ I would be interested to hear more from others' experiences of how they have overcome these and other such obstacles. Nick

Bridget

21/12/2012 05:57:28 am

Thanks Christopher for taking the time to respond. It is an interesting approach. I've also read that more diversity at the top table leads to a more innovative approach.

Nick, your questions are incredibly helpful & pertinent. Your female colleague must have felt much more confident approaching the meeting with the top team after receiving this input.

Bridget

Bridget

18/3/2013 09:44:12 am

Hi All

Those interested in the gender agenda may be interested in this TED talk on women in leadership by the COO of Facebook. http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/blog/women-work-and-the-will-to-lead
Blessings
B

Nick Wright

19/3/2013 12:44:51 pm

Hi Bridget and thanks for sharing the link - looks interesting! :) I hadn't connected Richard Branson with Fb. With best wishes. Nick

lindsay joan berry

8/6/2016 10:56:57 pm

Hi Nick,

I believe that EI could be adapted to leadership roles in the construction industry such as Construction Management as a way to promote more women into the construction industry and break the glass ceiling.

Equality and diversity laws have changed the perception of the work environment being classed as a male environment.

Most women leaders in senior management are in care or nursing field and do not attempt to go into the construction industry because they are not attracted to the industry in being male dominated and this could be the reason to make them a minority in the filed or maybe they feel inadequate.

What are your thoughts on this?

Do you think that EI should be mandatory in the construction industry to not only improve its reputation for being dogmatic but to improve equality?

--Lindsay