ASEAN COMMUNITY OF ENTREPRENEURS
OPINION
In this article, I will share my
thoughts on how women bosses coexist with male subordinates. Well,
it starts with understanding and
embracing the differences between
men and women.
••• GENDER DIFFERENCES
Men and women are different not
only from a biological sense. Men
and women have different cognitive
abilities and capabilities. They are
wired differently and this results
in a dissimilar comprehension or
perception of certain matters.
Differences in comprehension
and perception between men and
women at the workplace exists at
many levels. The permutations are
endless – gen-y women dealing with
gen-x men, boomer women dealing
with gen-y men, gen-z women dealing
with boomer men, gen-x women
dealing with gen-z men, etc. The
complexity of the matter increases
significantly when you consider men
and women from different ethnicities,
cultural backgrounds, etc into
the equation.
Women
bosses need
to understand,
embrace and
celebrate
the inherent
diversity so
that their male
subordinates
can adequately
understand
them and
perform well.
I would like to use the “taking
out the trash” analogy to better
describe how a man and a woman
have dissimilar understanding and
perception of matters. A woman
might accuse a man as lazy or
unhelpful if he does not take out the
trash. Conversely, a man will accuse
a woman for not explicitly making
the request to take out the trash
when that is clearly what the woman
wanted. This is only a simple matter.
Can you imagine how antagonistic
the relationship can be on more
complicated matters?
It is important to accept that
men are generally factual and linear
thinkers whereas women are mostly
conceptual thinkers. As factual and
linear thinkers, men have a tendency
to compartmentalise everything –
there is a box for each item, i.e. a box
for cars, a box for sports, a box for
their family, a box for their job, etc.
When men discuss a particular
subject matter, they often pull out the
appropriate box and discuss only the
content in the box. Women on the
other hand are conceptual thinkers,
hence have a tendency to connect
everything – money is connected to
cars, cars are connected to her job,
her job is connected to her family
time, her family time is connected to
household chores, etc.
In view of this inter-linked
cognitive system, women are often
more imaginative, innovative and
visionary – key traits in ensuring
their businesses and corporations
stay and continue to stay ahead of
the competition. Women bosses,
however, will need to clearly and
systematically communicate their
ideas to their subordinates for
effective execution, especially their
male subordinates.
••• BUILDING BRIDGES
Women bosses need to adopt the right
communication style when dealing
with male subordinates. Although
women generally have an open
and more communication-friendly
style that tends to be consultative,
interactive and participative in
nature, this style of communication
may not be well-received by male
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ASEAN COMMUNITY OF ENTREPRENEURS | ISSUE 2 : 2016