Women Research Summary: Men Vs. Coaching Women
Coaching Men vs Coaching Women Research Summary – August 2007
BACKGROUND
SKAI is a long established leadership development consultancy, that has coached 100’s of senior leaders, men and women, over the years. As an organisation founded by four women, we have always fought shy of any gender-based typecasting, taking the stance that all people are different, regardless of their sex. More recently, we have been asked to get involved in furthering the cause of women leaders, as many organisations are interested in tapping this pool of talent. They have found it very challenging to do so, and recent research done by a leading consultancy shows that women in middle managerial positions are exiting the workplace faster than ever. Whilst women …show more content…
Men and women are driven by different things at work. Men are far more excited by decision making, problem solving and fast pace than women, but women value relationships and self expression much more than men. Men are more motivated than women by being leaders and having status, but women value independence (doing things in their way rather than being dictated to) more than men, who find it easier to fit in to corporate norms. There was some evidence that women with family responsibilities feel this more. Both sexes valued challenge, ability to influence and recognition – surely a good shorthand for growing successful leaders, men and women. Men and women are held back by different things. Men are held back by extreme task focus, poor relationship building and management skills, and inability to admit weakness/learning need or ask for help (gives some insight into why they are less receptive to coaching). Women are significantly lacking in self belief, have much lower levels of vision and ambition and are conflict and risk averse. Given that most organisations are culturally more male dominated, it’s useful to ask the question “what would the female traits, if nurtured, bring to the organisation?” Successful coaching will not turn a woman into a man to be successful, but find ways to have a woman’s natural traits and abilities deployed at scale in the workplace. One speculates that their greater abilities at collaboration would deliver creativity, and their conflict and risk averse nature bring about more organisational resilience and band width (and perhaps be nicer places to be for more people). It is interesting to compare these findings with SKAI’s earlier research on uninspiring leaders, a disproportionate number of whom were women. It would
BACKGROUND
SKAI is a long established leadership development consultancy, that has coached 100’s of senior leaders, men and women, over the years. As an organisation founded by four women, we have always fought shy of any gender-based typecasting, taking the stance that all people are different, regardless of their sex. More recently, we have been asked to get involved in furthering the cause of women leaders, as many organisations are interested in tapping this pool of talent. They have found it very challenging to do so, and recent research done by a leading consultancy shows that women in middle managerial positions are exiting the workplace faster than ever. Whilst women …show more content…
Men and women are driven by different things at work. Men are far more excited by decision making, problem solving and fast pace than women, but women value relationships and self expression much more than men. Men are more motivated than women by being leaders and having status, but women value independence (doing things in their way rather than being dictated to) more than men, who find it easier to fit in to corporate norms. There was some evidence that women with family responsibilities feel this more. Both sexes valued challenge, ability to influence and recognition – surely a good shorthand for growing successful leaders, men and women. Men and women are held back by different things. Men are held back by extreme task focus, poor relationship building and management skills, and inability to admit weakness/learning need or ask for help (gives some insight into why they are less receptive to coaching). Women are significantly lacking in self belief, have much lower levels of vision and ambition and are conflict and risk averse. Given that most organisations are culturally more male dominated, it’s useful to ask the question “what would the female traits, if nurtured, bring to the organisation?” Successful coaching will not turn a woman into a man to be successful, but find ways to have a woman’s natural traits and abilities deployed at scale in the workplace. One speculates that their greater abilities at collaboration would deliver creativity, and their conflict and risk averse nature bring about more organisational resilience and band width (and perhaps be nicer places to be for more people). It is interesting to compare these findings with SKAI’s earlier research on uninspiring leaders, a disproportionate number of whom were women. It would