Research: Men Get More Actionable Feedback Than Women - What to Do About It
Episode 744: Show Notes
Here at Boss Project, our mission starts with wanting to see more women become financially free. We want them to be able to take care of their household financially and, ultimately, build and scale a business from the ground up. Our goal is to help create a stable foundation that will give them confidence as leaders and support them in pursuing continued growth. Unfortunately, the differences in how men and women are treated in the workplace can have a detrimental impact on women's ability to grow and flourish as leaders.
A recent study of 146 mid-career leaders explores the gender differences in how men and women are given feedback in the workplace. Their findings identified four key problem areas: vision, political skills, asserting leadership, and confidence. In this episode, we break down these four categories and take a closer look at how men and women are treated differently when it comes to guidance and feedback and what can be done to begin to adjust for these discrepancies. Tune in as we discuss the four key ways in which men are getting more actionable feedback than women and what to do about it!
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Identifying the Problem
We all know that there are key differences in how male-presenting bodies and femme-presenting bodies are treated in the workspace. And research shows us that a lot of those behaviors and biases are subconscious. This is demonstrated not just in how others perceive you, but in how you perceive yourself. And even if you are not working in a corporate environment (and you occupy the role of founder, owner, or CEO) it can still affect you.
Despite an increase in female managers in the corporate and small business world, women's advancement to senior leadership roles remains slow compared to men. While this may not be surprising, it can still be disheartening. Evidently, we still have a long way to go before we reach true gender equity in the workspace!
Setting the Vision
In the vision category, men are encouraged to set the vision and focus on the big picture. They are guided to forget the details and look towards the longer term as a leader, executive, or CEO. On the other hand, women are encouraged to focus on delivery, operational tasks, executing other people's visions, and developing expertise in narrow specializations. These differences in feedback typically drive men and women towards very different outcomes in their careers.
We’ve seen evidence of this repeatedly with our clients, many of whom believe that they need to constantly improve on their delivery before they can grow and scale. When the fact of the matter is that they have already spent so much time dedicated to improving their deliverables that they are excellent at it! However, they are often lacking in high-level knowledge that is essential for running and growing a business. And they don’t realize that it’s holding them back from future growth. That’s why we want to encourage them to back up, look at the broader picture, and set the vision!
Leveraging Political Skills
When it comes to political skills, men are told to leverage politics and use it to their advantage. They are encouraged to anticipate political considerations, build broader alliances with those who hold power, and develop politics as a language. In other words, they are encouraged to network upward. Conversely, women are instructed to cope with politics rather than finding a way to strategically use it to their advantage. They are told to toughen up, reduce tension, and deal with office politics. Which ultimately means that they are expected to network horizontally.
We’ve seen women avoid these politics for a number of reasons, which is why we want to share our strategies for addressing these issues. The politics of small business ownership is all about creating relationships, networking, and playing the game. We want you to view this through the lens of relationship-building, networking, and prospecting for potential clients and collaborations and help you drive your business forward in the process!
Asserting Leadership
Where men are told to claim their space and be assertive when pursuing leadership ambitions, women are encouraged to get along by being cooperative and deferential when exerting leadership.
This category is particularly relevant to our C-Suite on Demand clients, many of whom have had contractors on their team or even part-time employees but don’t necessarily identify as leaders yet. As you grow from being a one-person team to having employees, you can experience a lot of hesitation and a lack of confidence in your leadership abilities. We want to walk you through these because we believe it may be more subconscious than you’re giving it credit for.
Displaying Confidence
In the final category of confidence, we see that men are told to ‘display’ more confidence while female leaders are told to ‘be’ more confident. For men, confidence is framed as something that is fixable and can be practiced. They are told to develop confidence in specific skill sets and then ‘display’ it. Whereas female leaders’ lack of confidence is typically described as something inherent and a general flaw. As a result, they aren’t given the same actionable advice to help improve their confidence as men.
A lot of coaches and consultants these days focus primarily on mindset. And while we agree that mindset is important, we don’t believe it’s the only, or even most prominent thing holding women back. A lack of actionable knowledge and strategy is the biggest thing holding women back. This is why we are focused on teaching foundational lessons on how to be the CEO and owner of a company. We don’t claim to know everything, but we do know what it took for us to get unstuck, and we want to share that knowledge with those who need it!
Quote This
I am so frustrated with coaches and consultants who are focusing primarily on mindset. I think mindset is a necessary piece. But what is holding women back 100% is lack of actionable knowledge and strategy.
Highlights
Identifying the Problem [0:09:02]
Setting the Vision [0:16:24]
Leveraging Political Skills [0:20:30]
Asserting Leadership [0:25:49]
Displaying Confidence [0:31:52]
Today’s Guest:
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
The Strategy Hour Podcast is a twice weekly show hosted by Abagail Pumphrey and Emylee Williams, the founders of Boss Project. Join us for semi-ranty biz conversations for service providers looking to ethically grow their agency businesses. Episodes cover everything from lead generation to leadership mindset to team culture and beyond.
Key Topics:
Leadership, Vision, Political Skills, Asserting Leadership, Confidence, Actionable Feedback
