Your ability to communicate effectively is one of the greatest skills you need for getting things done.  If you and your colleagues have already participated in traditional communications training but are still finding that issues arise that can be linked to miscommunications, then it is time to take your knowledge and understanding of effective communications to a higher level.  Cultural differences do exist between males and females and these differences impact the way that each gender responds, behaves, and communicates.

Have you ever experienced one of these baffling and frustrating situations?

• A female manager constantly seeks input from those she supervises prior to making a decision.  Her male employees see her as a weak manager.
• As a female, you present an idea during an important meeting only to have it overlooked.  Yet when a male colleague presents the same idea, he receives accolades.
• As a male manager, you don't understand why your female assistant feels the need to make "helpful suggestions" when you tell her to do something.
• A male manager meets with his male supervisors over breakfast or lunch, but meets with female supervisors at his office.
• You don't understand how male associates can brutally attack each other's ideas during a meeting then get together for drinks later that evening.

Each of these situations is caused by cultural differences between males and females.  Males and females both bring unique strengths to the workplace, but what is misunderstood by the other is often evaluated as weakness.

While we see some sign of a slow change, the game of  business is still played according to the rules that men set in place decades ago.  A few women have moved into the executive suites of today's major corporations and nonprofit organizations, however when asked, they often admit that they learned to play and win according to men's ways of conducting business.  This is not meant to imply that women must take on the attributes of men in order to be successful in their careers.  What it does mean is that more women must develop an awareness and a deeper understanding of the basic premises on which the game of business is played.

In the next issues of this e-newsletter, we will discuss some of the lessons that boys learn:

• Competition is the name of the game
• Do what the coach says, period
• How to take criticism and praise

and contrast these with lessons that girls learn:

• How to play one-on-one
• How to negotiate differences
• How to engage in play as a process.

These lessons ultimately influence the way that men and women respond, behave, and communicate when playing the game of business.

If you wish to bring a workshop on Gender Communications to your workplace, contact us by responding to this email, or by calling 478.929.2867 for more information.  Working with you would be a pleasure.

All the best,

Donna