Managing with a Difference: Men and Women in the Workplace

A Business Perspective

This seminar is not a "sexual harassment" approach. The real goal, and the most beneficial application of leadership is to make the best use of all the employees. To that end this seminar goes way beyond the "meeting legal requirements" approach and therefore avoids the backlash, resistance, and confusion that are the consequences of that method. Our desire is not to constrain behavior and make people less than they are, but to open up the eyes of both genders to the contribution each offers.

The growing complexity and the fast pace of change in the marketplace are putting new pressures on most organizations. The necessity to change old habits and do things in a new way is confusing and problematic for many leaders and managers. It one thing to say do things differently and quite another to actually know what "differently" means. From a systems perspective, the older "closed" system must be opened to new ideas. One of the major benefits of bringing women into the workplace, and ethnic minorities also, is the fresh eyes with which they see the old, established ways of doing business. Their very unfamiliarity with traditional processes and methods offers an easy avenue to new ideas and innovative alternatives.
 

We usually don't like what we don't understand. It is a characteristic of human beings, that our own personal approach to life seems so obvious that it is hard to imagine that others would have any other way of doing things. The reality is that each individual, irrespective of gender, has a unique approach and unique insights into how life can be lived, and work can be done. Caught in our own paradigms, we tease, make fun of, and disparage other people, trapped in our own spatial blindness. We need new options - desperately - to get out of the bind we are in. To get those options, we must open our eyes and ears to the wealth of creativity contained in the unexpressed, depreciated, devalued views of others.

The converse of this is that, while we don't see others well when mired in our own habits and assumptions, we also don't see ourselves well. Our habits and assumptions, become "invisible," we take them for granted. The fresh eyes of newcomers can reflect back to us what we look like to others. This perspective is precious, because once the "newness" wears off and people acclimate to the "usual" way of doing business, they too get trapped in the shared assumptions about "how we do things here."

I believe that there is another more compelling reason for really beginning to listen to each other with appreciative ears. The new behaviors we need to engender require new structures, new organizational designs to be sustainable. One of the great gifts of the female perspective is just exactly that. Left to their own devices, women manage and design their organizations in ways that are different from the traditional models. We need this difference. Come explore with us the advantages and differences that seeing with engendered eyes offers.
 
 

Presentation Description

This seminar will open up participants to the gifts each gender possesses and the gifts each offers. Each of the major players in organizations, men and women, have significant gifts to give. More importantly, those gifts are exponentially increased when they are intertwined.

The male approach to leadership and organizational design has served us well over the past many years, but now is faced with its limitations. The habits, rules and traditions of the past need to be expanded to be effective in the current fast paced and rapidly changing environment. The expansion requires, like any other system, new information to facilitate that growth and development. Women, often excluded from business, have formed their own ways of leadership and organizational design. The time has come to initiate a melding of the two. The creation of vigorous, robust and energetic organizations is a crucial imperative for future business success.

So much is built upon our innate understanding of how the world works, and our place in it. This understanding is fundamentally different if you are a woman, than if you are a man. This seminar will explore these differences and how they impact our natural management and leadership styles. We will also explore the implications of these differences for how we design organizations. Each person only knows their own experience. We grow up thinking everyone is just like us. One of the most profound implications of the shrinking of the globe, is the realization that others are not like us, and that that is a good thing. This new appreciation of diversity is the leverage point for building more resilient and effective organizations.
 
 

Goals and Objectives

During this seminar participants can expect to:

• Experience a renewed appreciation for their own capabilities
• Gain insights into how both genders can work together to support organizational transformation
• Achieve a better understanding of difficult, gender-based situations
• Discover and make more effective use of gender-based opportunities
• Work more potently with others

Intended Audience

This workshop will benefit managers and leaders looking to deepen their understanding and appreciation of gender differences. People who have the responsibility for initiating or managing both genders in their organization. Executives and leaders who have the responsibility for organizational effectiveness and change.

The seminar includes:

• Experiential material and exercises
• A workbook
• Resources