hrps annual conference 2016 - gender expressions

Understanding gender expressions in leadership competencies; Getting to the root of the effective balanced leader

Presented by:

Stacy L Shamberger

Executive VP Skyline Group

About The Presenter

• EVP Skyline Group International

• Board of Advisors; GreatLeadersInspire.com (American Public

University)

• Held Executive and Leadership positions in L&D/HR, Finance and

Operations at Fortune 500 and Mid-sized companies. (IBM, ADP,

Citibank, Fisher Scientific)

• Former Adjunct Professor - Executive & Leadership Studies

• Author of published articles on a variety of HCM topics including;

leadership development, employee engagement and metrics

• International speaker/presenter

Research We Will Review Today

Research completed in February 2016 conducted

by the Organizational Intelligence Institute

Research document to be published in May

Gender Expression and the Effective Leader:

The surprising and not so surprising news

Wanted more detail about how gender-based behaviors are expressed and perceived in the workplace.

Based on our experiences and previous research, we theorized that when a man adopts a feminine

(inclusive) approach to a leadership situation, for example, to be more collaborative and inclusive, he is

perceived more positively than a woman is when adopting a masculine (directive) behavior, for example

when she is directive and assertive.

Basis/Premise of Gender Expression Research

Basis/Premise of Research…

Explored the following questions through a survey of 1,012 men and women ranging from individual

contributors to CEO’s with 4 or more years in the workplace today.

1. Do people agree that there is a gender based behavior continuum in leadership?

2. Which behaviors are seen as most effective?

3. How are men perceived when they utilize a masculine versus feminine behavior?

4. How are women perceived when they utilize a masculine versus feminine behavior?

A Bit About the Research Population

0

50

100

150

200

SIZE OF COMPANIES RESPONDED

DATA BY GENERATION

Gender Expressions Survey 2016 Organizational Intelligence Institute


Company Culture of Respondents

0 100 200 300 400 500

Do Things First

Doing Things Together

Getting Things Done

Doing Things Right

COMPANY CULTURE

25% Structured, controlled, focus on

efficiency and stability

Results oriented, focus on competition,

achievement, and winning

Family like, focus on collaboration,

teamwork and mentoring

Dynamic, focus on risk taking and

innovation

20%

40%

15%


High Impact Competencies High Impact Leadership

High Impact Leaders Require Balance

Men and Women as Effective Leaders

American Psychological Association Findings

A 2014 meta-analysis published by the American

Psychological Association found that both men

and women are seen as equally effective and

theorized that the stereotypes associating

masculine traits with leadership were beginning

to dissolve

What did the OII research uncover?

Hypothesis #1

Hypothesis #1:

There is a continuum of masculine and feminine behaviors within a competency.

• For instance, “listening,” which is traditionally seen as a feminine competency, actually has a masculine and

feminine expression. Just as there is a masculine and feminine expression of “strategic thinking,” which is

typically considered masculine.

• Example: the masculine expression of listening is being able to repeat back the key words and points

the other person made. The feminine expression of listening is for emotional connection

Recognized Four Quadrants of Leadership

In this study we looked at 28 leadership

competencies validated by Skyline Group

They were pulled from 4 recognized

leadership quadrants. The first step in

examining balance – was to ensure there

was balance in the primary quadrants

Percentage of Competencies Rated Differently

Leading Self

Leading Others

Leading Organization

Managing Implementation

43%

14%

57%

0%


Count of Significantly Different Effectiveness of

Expressions Feminine vs. Masculine

Competencies of Quadrant 1

• Emotional Control

• Flexibility

• Integrity

• Resilience

• Self-Confidence

• Executive Presence

• Work/Life Balance


• Assertiveness

• Conflict Resolution

• Influencing Others

• Listening

• Partnering and Relationship Building

• Teamwork

• Verbal Communication


• Creativity and Innovation

• Entrepreneurship

• External Awareness

• Inspirational Vision

• Organizational Awareness

• Service Motivation

• Strategic Thinking


• Coaching and Mentoring

• Customer Focus

• Delegation

• Effectiveness

• Monitoring Performance

• Planning and Organizing

• Thoroughness

Leadership Traits Matter

Some History to Consider

Believe It or Not….

Impact of Development Over the Past 4 Decades

High acceptance of men

adopting Inclusive Behavior

Low acceptance of women

adopting Directive Behavior


0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1314 15 1617 18 1920 21 2223 24 2526 27 28

Masculine Overall Women Expressing Masculine Overall


Effective Situational Real-Time Leadership

Improved Effective Situational Real-Time Leadership I

Competency/Behavior

D IBalanced Effective

Hypothesis #2

Hypothesis #2:

Women need to be more balanced when using a masculine versus feminine expression of a

competency, depending on their audience and the needs of the situation.

• Research has shown that men are seen as effective when they use both the masculine and feminine expression of a

competency and therefore are seen as balanced as a leader .

• Women who solely rely on one type of expression, too masculine too often are seen as “bossy” and too

feminine are seen as wallflowers or weak.

• Our premise: women have not been pushed to develop both aspects of a competency. As a result, women are

often less balanced and therefore less effective.

Likability vs. Effectiveness…

Many researchers have demonstrated what has become known as the

‘likability vs. effectiveness’ tradeoff that women must make in business

Basically, women who adopt the very same behavior as men to drive success

in the workplace are seen as less likable.

Cooper, M. For Women Leaders, Likability and Success Hardly go Hand-in-Hand. 30 April, 2013. Harvard Business Review

April 8, 2016

Nearly half of all registered voters say they would at least consider voting for Clinton, far more than who say they are open to voting for Trump. Sixty-three percent of voters say they definitely wouldn't vote for Trump in a general election.

His unfavorable rating in the latest AP-GfK poll stands at 69 percent.

Reality:Trump “likability factor” 19 points

lower or 30%.

% of Competencies Rated Lower When Utilizing the Opposite Gender Behavior

4%

43%

11%

14%

25%

43%

60%

WOMEN UTILIZING MASCULINE EXPRESSION

MEN UTILIZING THE FEMININE EXPRESSION

Rated lower by Men Rated lower by Women Rated lower by Both Genders Rated the same by Both Genders


Unconscious Bias? Perhaps…

4%

43%

11%

14%

25%

43%

60%

WOMEN UTILIZING MASCULINE EXPRESSION

MEN UTILIZING THE FEMININE EXPRESSION

Unconscious Bias Intersection

Why?

• Unawareness

• Outside of Our Control

• Assumptions

• Judgements

Average Effectiveness: Feminine vs. Masculine Expressions

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Average Effectiveness: Feminine vs. Masculine Expressions


77%24%

56%

39%

53% 35% 56%28%

43% 36%

39%

29%

20%3%

37%

5%

20% 13% 24%5%

-4%

4%

24%

8%

Percentage Lower by Female Raters Percentage Lower by Male Raters

Lower % Rating of When Women Chose Masculine Expressions


Lower % Rating When Men Choose Feminine Expressions

25%

52%

54%

23%

34%

38%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

CREATIVITYINNOVATION

INSPIRATIONALVISION

EMOTIONAL CONTROL

Percentage Lower by Male Raters Percentage Lower by Female Raters


Inclusionary and Directional Expressions

The inclusionary expressions of these six competencies more

clearly engage others by creating openness in thinking and

conversations to push the limits of ideas

Here we see the directional theme that relates to where we are going

and how we will get there. The clarity and drive of the directive

expression are seen as more effective.

Another area where a feminine approach lagged was influencing others.



Average Effectiveness: Feminine vs. Masculine Expressions (Only significant results shown)

Emotional Control ExecPresence Self Confidence Conflict Resolution Creativity Innovation Entrepreneurship Inspirational Vision Strategic Thinking

Leading Self Leading Others Leading Organization

2

1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2

1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

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Color by

Expression Type

Feminine Expression

Masculine Expression

In the case of Strategic Thinking, women can adopt the masculine expression of

‘methodically thinking 5 steps out, planning accordingly and having contingency plans’

with confidence and know that she will be perceived as effective.

However, when women adopt the more masculine ‘energetic and passionate’ selling of

a vision we see a trend that is disturbingly prevalent in our findings. Women are actually perecieved negatively


Energetic and Passionate Selling of Vision

OK!

Not OK?

Data Segmentations

In general, CEO’s and C-Suite executives had more positive ratings of workplace behavior:

• Rating feminine (Inclusive) expression of behaviors equally as well as masculine.

• Their ratings of women embodying the masculine (Directive) expression of a competency were much

more positive than the perceptions and ratings of individual contributors

Data Segmentation

Amongst Millennials:

• There has more positive ratings of feminine leadership and of women utilizing masculine(Directive)

behavior expressions in the workplace.

• Millennials will only increase as a percentage of the working population, therefore we can anticipate

further support of masculine expressions of leadership by women.

GenZ is expected to have an even greater tolerance and expectation of female leaders, as they will

enter the workplace with highest percentage of women in leadership then any other generation prior!

Key Research Findings

• A recognizable gender-based behavior continuum exists for the 28 leadership

competencies used/surveyed.

• Masculine (Directive) & Feminine (Inclusive) behaviors are equally effective for 70% of

Leadership Competencies

• Women are rated lower when adopting masculine leadership behaviors on 57% of

leadership competencies

• While men are rated lower for adopting feminine behaviors for 21% of competencies

• Women rate other women lower more frequently than men do (57% vs. 14%)

• Boomers and Millennials were more accepting of women using masculine leadership

behaviors.

Stacy L. Shamberger

[email protected]

650.400.2782

mailto:[email protected]

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Male w/Feminine Express…

hrps annual conference 2016 - gender expressions

Leadership & Management