By Robin Madell (San Francisco)
“‘Nice’ has never really been the word to describe me in
the workplace. However, I do think I am an effective leader. I honestly
don’t know if being ‘nice’ would have gotten me further along more quickly
or not. Sometimes I think it might have.”
-Nikki Gastineau Johnson, Vice President
As the quote above reflects, women sometimes feel conflicted about being ‘nice’ versus ‘effective’ in the workplace. Studies show that when women adopt more assertive behaviors believed to be essential to successful leadership, they are evaluated more negatively than men. (See “How to Navigate the Niceness Paradox: Part 1.”)
The Glass Hammer continues with Part 2 of a special series on how women can navigate the “niceness paradox.” For this series, we polled a group of 50 workplace thought leaders, as well as women in leadership roles across a variety of industries, for their expertise. The following strategies are a continuation of the group’s top recommendations.
Balance “Relate” and “Require”
A healthy blend of both “relating” and “requiring” skills are necessary for workplace effectiveness, says Leigh Steere, co-founder of Managing People Better. Relating skills include asking, listening, including, coaching, and encouraging, while requiring skills include creating expectations, focusing on goals, setting controls, asserting views, and confronting problems.
Leigh says that both women and men can stumble professionally if they lean on one of these skill sets more than the other. “Women may not be able to avoid the niceness paradox completely, because some find it uncomfortable to see women engaged in requiring skills.” Former CEO at Hewitt Associates Peter Friedes points out that women often believe that they become less nice when they use requiring skills.
Tom Cox, managing consultant of Cox Business Consulting, also emphasizes the relate/require balance. He says that to negate the paradox, you need to push both sides at once. “You want
enough of a relationship that people care about making you happy, and you want to be requiring
enough that you push people out of their comfort zones,” Cox says. He also suggests that women stop seeing the dual options as a paradox. “You don’t become more demanding by being less of a relater,” he says. “Hold your ground on relating, or even increase it.”
Suzanne M. Garber, COO of International SOS Assistance, Inc., also feels that it is not an either/or proposition between “nice” and “effective,” maintaining that it is possible for women to be
both. “I think the more telling question is not ‘Is a woman perceived to be effective in her role if she is also nice’ but ‘Is a woman effective in her role if she is also nice,’” Garber says. “Behavior does matter in the workplace and professional courtesy niceness is, in some cases, just as important as competence. In the end, performance matters and how that is accomplished does count.”
Ending the Beauty Bias
Featured, Managing ChangeIn the past, studies have revealed that those with more symmetrical faces are perceived to be more attractive and those considered beautiful or handsome are seen as intelligent and good. Those of course, are just general perceptions, but what happens when your physical appearance actually influences how competent others believe you to be at your job?
A recent controversial study paid for by Procter & Gamble (a manufacturer of popular makeup brands, a fact that should not be overlooked) revealed that wearing makeup increases people’s perceptions of a woman’s likability, her competence, and her trustworthiness.
The study featured 25 female subjects, aged 20 to 50, who were white, African-American, and Hispanic. Each was photographed barefaced and in three looks that researchers called natural, professional, and glamorous. One hundred forty-nine adults (including 61 men) judged the pictures for enough time to make a snap judgment. An additional 119 adults (including 30 men) were given unlimited time to look at the same faces. The participants judged women made up in varying “intensities of luminance contrast,” which means how much their eyes and lips stood out compared to their skin. The results revealed that participants viewed those wearing makeup as more competent than barefaced women, whether they had a quick glance or a longer inspection.
It seems our youth and beauty obsessed culture has reached an all-time low if judgments about attractiveness are spilling over into judgments about competence. But according to Marjorie Jolles, assistant professor of Roosevelt University’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program, this has always been the case.
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Achieving Global Growth and Discovery by Letting Go of Fear
Expert AnswersOpening up your eyes to see the bigger picture of the global marketplace is one of the most important steps leaders in the 21st century can do to help their businesses succeed.
Unfortunately, it is also one of the easiest and most devastating actions they can fail to take. For those who spent their whole life looking at the world through a keyhole, throwing the door wide open can be overwhelming. There’s so much to take in that it is easy to miss opportunities that could be right in front of your nose.
Engaging in international business may require reaching beyond your comfort zone while developing the spirit of adventure. In many cases, people are too conservative, too afraid of change and of the unfamiliar, and therefore, they resist global opportunities out of fear. The key to growth is to let go of fear and focus on 5 main points for success and growth globally.
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Five Ways to Reignite Your Career Passion
Ask A Career CoachDoes this situation sound familiar? You have worked hard to climb the corporate ladder. You’ve had to burn the candle on both ends to get there. When you get to the corner office or the next rung in the ladder, after the initial euphoria of meeting your goal wears off, the grind remains. The rewards can seem a bit empty relative to the sacrifices made and the energy expended to get there. At various points in your career it is easy to burn-out. Or you decide to opt out by physically leaving or disengaging. According to a Gallup survey, 71% of US employees are disengaged. Your disengagement is not just linked to your productivity but also your health and wellbeing.
It’s easy for us to disengage either by leaving our work or leaving our full passionate selves at the door when we enter our workplaces. We ask ourselves, “Is the effort worth it to continue to climb the corporate stair master?” The answer to the latter question is very personal. However, one thing is pretty clear. As women leaders, our passion for what we do is a big part of our success and fulfillment, as well as our power. So how do we reignite that passion when it’s beginning to fade?
Here are five steps to reignite the passion and fall in love again with what you do. Remember the five P’s to reigniting the passion in your work.
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Voice of Experience: Fiona O’Hara, Senior Executive, Technology DOO, Accenture
Voices of ExperienceAccording to Fiona O’Hara, Senior Executive and Technology Director of Operations at Accenture, meeting challenges head on is critical for getting to the next level.
“Don’t shy away from challenges and stretch roles. You will be able to rise to the challenge and you will learn so much more than if you stay in your comfort zone,” she said.
O’Hara added, “It can also provide a opportunity to show what you are capable of and in doing so may serve to advance your career more quickly.”
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Passion and Leadership: Looking Ahead to 2012
Featured, NewsThis year on The Glass Hammer, a topic we’ve discussed frequently is passion – why uncovering your true passion about your work can help advance your career and can make you happier. The value of passion really comes down to being “authentic” – when you’re doing what you truly love, it shows, and helps influence others to follow you or pull you forward.
In his new book Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level, Joel A. Garfinkle explains why passion is so important for leaders – it’s a lot easier to get other people to follow you when they believe in you, than when they don’t. He writes:
Enthusiasm and confidence are two qualities that stem from passion, but there’s a lot more to it than that. According to a recent study, the wrong kind of passion can stand in your way, while the right kind can propel you forward. How can you manage your own passion and use it to gain more ground in 2012?
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Expanding Your Horizons: Seven Tips to Get on an International Board
Industry Leaders, LeadershipRecent studies on women in the boardroom reveal that women are getting seats at the table at an unfortunately slow rate. In fact, calls for more women on boards have been more vocal in Europe and the UK.
For example, Britain just announced that companies would have to announce to shareholders by September 2012 their own targets for placing women on their boards, and state clearly how they plan to do so. Countries such as France, Spain, and Norway have already introduced compulsory quotas.
Irene Natividad, chair of Corporate Women Directors International, said, “Something is happening, and it’s driven by Europe.”
But supply seems to be unable to keep up with demand. The CWDI reports that US companies hold about 20.8% of board seats. According to the European Professional Women’s Network, 9.7% of the board members at the top 300 companies. And in China and India, women hold only about 5% of board seats.
This opens up an opportunity for women in the United States to join boards abroad, particularly in Europe where many companies are looking to fill their quotas or mandates.
As Candice Morgan, director of advisory services at Catalyst recently told HR Magazine, “We’ve certainly seen, for a while, an interest in women with international formal experience, since the legislation in Norway.”
Serving on a board is a great opportunity to broaden your horizons, said Lauren Leader-Chivee, Senior Vice President at the Center for Work-Life Policy and Partner at Sylvia Ann Hewlett Associates. “If you aspire to top leadership, being on a board…gives you exposure to a diverse set of management. To be fully competent in your own company you need to have a diverse range of experiences,” she said.
Here are seven tips to keep in mind when you are seeking a board seat abroad.
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Voice of Experience: Claire Ross, Head of Customer Service Delivery, Outsourcing, Mercer
Voices of ExperienceOne of the turning points in Claire Ross’s career was realizing the benefits in taking big risks and moving out of her comfort zone.
Ross, Head of Customer Service Delivery, Outsourcing at Mercer, explained, “I realized that men go for bigger roles, even if they don’t think they can do half of the job. As a woman I would not have gone done that, our natural tendency is to be 100% sure you can do the whole role.”
She continued, ‘Knowing that, I have pushed myself outside of my comfort zone and it has proved to be much easier than I ever imagined. If I had known earlier, I would have pushed further, sooner.”
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Ask-a-Career-Coach: How to Rock Your Performance Review
Ask A Career CoachI was worried after my most recent coaching session with “Rina.” We had been prepping for her performance review as a top-level financial advisor, and I didn’t have much time to make a few key points. Rina was talking about her hard work and hurt feelings rather than about her accomplishments and comparative salaries, so in order to shock her into a productive mindset, I chose to use some untempered bluntness. Afterward I wondered, had I been a tad too blunt?
And then I received this update from Rina:
The only reason I went for the blunt tool was that I knew Rina to be a really smart cookie and a quick study, to boot. She doesn’t get stuck in ego, and she is serious about her career. Let me break down the tools and techniques she used to get that 11% pay bump, so you can go get your own raise!
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How to Navigate the Niceness Paradox, Part 2
Office Politics“‘Nice’ has never really been the word to describe me in the workplace. However, I do think I am an effective leader. I honestly don’t know if being ‘nice’ would have gotten me further along more quickly or not. Sometimes I think it might have.”
-Nikki Gastineau Johnson, Vice President
As the quote above reflects, women sometimes feel conflicted about being ‘nice’ versus ‘effective’ in the workplace. Studies show that when women adopt more assertive behaviors believed to be essential to successful leadership, they are evaluated more negatively than men. (See “How to Navigate the Niceness Paradox: Part 1.”)
The Glass Hammer continues with Part 2 of a special series on how women can navigate the “niceness paradox.” For this series, we polled a group of 50 workplace thought leaders, as well as women in leadership roles across a variety of industries, for their expertise. The following strategies are a continuation of the group’s top recommendations.
Balance “Relate” and “Require”
A healthy blend of both “relating” and “requiring” skills are necessary for workplace effectiveness, says Leigh Steere, co-founder of Managing People Better. Relating skills include asking, listening, including, coaching, and encouraging, while requiring skills include creating expectations, focusing on goals, setting controls, asserting views, and confronting problems.
Leigh says that both women and men can stumble professionally if they lean on one of these skill sets more than the other. “Women may not be able to avoid the niceness paradox completely, because some find it uncomfortable to see women engaged in requiring skills.” Former CEO at Hewitt Associates Peter Friedes points out that women often believe that they become less nice when they use requiring skills.
Tom Cox, managing consultant of Cox Business Consulting, also emphasizes the relate/require balance. He says that to negate the paradox, you need to push both sides at once. “You want enough of a relationship that people care about making you happy, and you want to be requiring enough that you push people out of their comfort zones,” Cox says. He also suggests that women stop seeing the dual options as a paradox. “You don’t become more demanding by being less of a relater,” he says. “Hold your ground on relating, or even increase it.”
Suzanne M. Garber, COO of International SOS Assistance, Inc., also feels that it is not an either/or proposition between “nice” and “effective,” maintaining that it is possible for women to be both. “I think the more telling question is not ‘Is a woman perceived to be effective in her role if she is also nice’ but ‘Is a woman effective in her role if she is also nice,’” Garber says. “Behavior does matter in the workplace and professional courtesy niceness is, in some cases, just as important as competence. In the end, performance matters and how that is accomplished does count.”
Read more
How to Navigate the Niceness Paradox, Part 1
Office Politics“People working for me have loved me; peers have resented and hated me. For years, I was the top female executive in my area in a very male-dominated industry, but I’ve grown tired of trying to be someone I am not, just to be perceived on a personal level as favorably as my male counterparts. I’m in the process of leaving a corporate job and starting my own law firm due to this very reality.”
The anonymous quote above reveals that when it comes to leadership, women face a cultural conundrum. Studies show that when women adopt certain behaviors believed to be essential to successful leadership, they are evaluated more negatively than men. Women continue to be perceived as less qualified than men in most leadership roles.
For example, Northwestern University recently performed a meta-analysis incorporating studies from three different research paradigms to examine the cultural masculinity of leadership stereotypes. The analysis found that women are sometimes viewed as inappropriate or presumptuous when they engage in certain behaviors required by leadership positions. Previous research found that qualities such as being nice or compassionate are commonly associated with women, while qualities such as being assertive or competitive are associated with men.
Study co-author Alice Eagly comments on the implications of the study on Northwestern’s website: “Cultural stereotypes can make it seem that women do not have what it takes for important leadership roles, thereby adding to the barriers that women encounter in attaining roles that yield substantial power and authority.”
In a lecture to the Silicon Valley Thought Leadership Greenhouse, Deborah Gruenfeld of the Stanford Graduate School of Business noted a recent study in which students were asked to evaluate two identical versions of a case study about a venture capitalist, except one featured a woman and the other a man. As described on Stanford’s website:
“Students found the male and female versions to be equally competent and effective. However, when the students thought the venture capitalist was a woman they found her to be less genuine, humble, and kind and more power-hungry, self-promoting, and disingenuous. And the more assertive a student found the female venture capitalist to be, the more they rejected her.”
The results of studies like these reflect an inherent paradox for women. When women are associated with leadership qualities that are considered more “male” (such as strength, decisiveness, competitiveness, and authoritativeness), they may be judged as “unlikeable.” Yet women who are viewed as more likeable by displaying qualities that are considered more “female” (such as friendliness, warmth, nurturing, and kindness) are sometimes considered less capable and competent leaders.
How can women navigate the “niceness paradox”? For a special two-part series, The Glass Hammer polled a group of 50 workplace thought leaders, as well as women in leadership roles across a variety of industries, for their expertise. The following strategies reflect the group’s top recommendations.
Read more