In my book Power vs. Perception: Ten Characteristics of Self-Empowerment for Women I discuss how misunderstandings, miscommunications or differences in work styles, can have a negative impact on working relationships and the work environment; especially between men and women in the workplace.
Differences in Work Styles
In her book, The Promotable Woman, Norma Carr-Ruffino, Ph.D., created a comparison of male and female managers utilizing the work of Sally Helgesen from her book, The Female Advantage: Women’s Ways of Leadership, and Henry Mintzberg from his book The Nature of Managerial Work. The results of her comparison are illustrated in the table below.
Know Yourself
Self-empowerment comes from knowing the truth about yourself and not allowing the perceptions of others to influence you. For example, based on the first example in the table, where it indicates that men prefer to work at an unrelenting pace without taking breaks, a male manager may perceive that when a female co-worker or employee takes periodic short breaks that she is not working as hard as she should be, or possibly, not taking her work seriously enough, or any number of negative perceptions that can be made up based upon a difference in perception of their preferred work styles. In addition to having a negative impact on the work group climate, this type of misinterpreted communication can also affect productivity as well as the overall business results.
The key to dealing with situations such as this is to recognize them and not react to them; communicate openly and honestly about your work preferences and focus on the results you are producing.
Remember:
- Communicate effectively.
- Be yourself.
- Do your job and focus on results.
- Be authentic.
Self-Empowerment comes from knowing the truth about yourself and not allowing the perceptions of others to influence you. If we need help, we can learn effective communications skills, such as listening, conflict management, assertiveness and influencing; so if that's an issue for you it is something that can be done. The reality is we're all different and we all have differing work styles. No one style is better than the other nor is one right or wrong. When we communicate effectively and focus our energy on meeting our work objectives that are producing business results, there's enough room for everyone's individual work styles in today's diverse workforce.
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Comparison of Male and Female Managers |
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Mintzberg’s study of male managers |
Helgesen’s study of female managers |
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Men worked at an unrelenting pace, with no breaks in activity during the day |
Women worked at a steady pace, with small breaks |
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Men’s days were characterized by interruptions, discontinuity, and fragmentation. |
Women viewed unscheduled tasks and encounters as a chance to be accessible to team members, to be involved, responsible, caring and helpful. |
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Men showed a preference for live action encounters. |
Women preferred live action encounters, but scheduled time to attend to mail. |
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Men lacked time for reflection. |
Women focused on the ecology of leadership, finding time for reflection and keeping the long term in focus, relating decisions to their larger effect upon families, education, environment, even world peace. |
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Men maintained a complex network of relationships with people outside the organization. |
Women maintained a complex network of relationships with people outside the organization. |
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Men identified themselves with their jobs. |
Women identified themselves as complex and multifaceted. |
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Men had difficulty sharing information |
Women scheduled time for sharing information |