Got Your GQ?

iStock_000008140633XSmall_1_.jpgContributed by Tracey Carr of Eve-olution.net

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 74 percent of companies have diversity programs in place. That’s a good start, but it sidesteps perhaps the most striking diversity component in the workplace: the personality differences between men and women. This is where we need Gender Intelligence, or GQ™ .


For every person in the workforce, man or woman, one of the following situations is familiar (if not frequent):

  • It’s a professional setting and all the men are shaking hands firmly. But, they either don’t shake the women’s hands, or they do with a limp, modified handshake.
  • It’s a meeting with two men and a woman. The men are focused on each other’s thoughts, while the woman is just trying to be heard.
  • A meeting starts and one of the male executives suggests that a female colleague be the note taker.

These examples are not meant to be biased against men. Rather, they’re just specific examples of the scenarios many female executives encounter on a daily basis. Either knowingly or unknowingly, both men and women fall into specific patterns and stereotypes in professional settings. When this occurs, the results are damaging for everyone involved, particularly for organizations that are denied potential returns from rounded, balanced teamwork.

This is exactly why we need to improve our GQ™ . Gender Intelligence is the ability to respond with finesse and savvy to gender generated issues. And here’s a shocker: many corporations are not ready to hear that men and women have different communication styles that can seriously impact their ability to work effectively together.

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Ask-A-Recruiter: Handling Performance Reviews

istock_000005168521xsmall1.jpgContributed by Caroline Ceniza-Levine of SixFigureStart

Some companies have regularly scheduled reviews, but some don’t. Furthermore, in this chaotic market, even regular reviews might get pushed off. With the downsizing and restructuring in today’s market, your job may have changed significantly. You may have more responsibility or completely different tasks added to your plate. So you want a review to make sure you’re on track to meet your goals (and to confirm what these goals are in this ever-changing market). It is important to use these reviews to your advantage – as a chance to make adjustments in your approach, identify blind spots and figure out how you can contribute value-added to others.

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Safeguarding Your Career in a Recession

The current credit crisis and recession is enough to make even the most confident professional woman uncertain about what the future holds in 2009. Instead of panicking, attend this highly interactive coaching workshop which will help you regain a sense of control over your career.

During this evening workshop you will regain a sense of confidence as you focus on what you do have control over, even during an weak economy. We will look at how you communicate and with whom you engage to ensure that your career is safeguarded and even developed during this turbulent period. You will learn steps to raise your profile and take control of the image you project to your boss, colleagues and those you haven’t even met yet, which will make you a treasured asset rather than the top of a potential redundancy list.

This course will be facilitated by Dr. Suzanne Doyle-Morris:
Dr Suzanne Doyle-Morris is an executive coach with a passion for helping female professionals succeed. She has a Ph.D. from Cambridge University that explored the experiences of successful women in male-dominated fields, and a background working with women at UBS, Cisco, Clifford Chance, O2 and Microsoft. She is uniquely qualified to help female executives succeed, particularly in traditionally male-dominated industries and is publishing a book on this fascinating topic in spring 2009.

If this course is of interest to you, please email Sarah Lilley on slilley@womenin.co.uk or call on 020 7422 9213.

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The Glass Hammer featured on MyVenturePad.com

Nicki_Gilmour_1.jpgOur own Nicki Gilmour was featured in a podcast on MyVenturePad.com, where she shared her thoughts on the impact of the current economic crisis on women, her reasons for launching The Glass Hammer and the future of equality in the workplace.

Check out the podcast at: https://myventurepad.com/MVP/49418

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Bumps on the On Ramp

iStock_000003269650XSmall_1_.jpgby Liz O’Donnell (Boston)

Stay at home mothers (SAHMs) are looking for work and facing some good news/bad news. A combination of factors is sending these SAHMs back to work. Some need to replace the income of spouses who have been laid off. Others need the additional money to combat increased living costs. And still others are merely ready to return after taking time to care for their families.

As we have been reporting on The Glass Hammer, the good news is that it is no longer considered impossible to re-enter the work world. Several years ago, the mainstream media was full of stories that said women who had taken time off to raise families had very slim chances of being rehired. Employers just didn’t value the skills women cultivated as heads of households and PTO volunteers, the stories said.

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Furloughs, Reduced Work-Weeks & Flexible Work Arrangements: The Law of Alternative Work Arrangements

Furloughs As employers look for alternatives to layoffs during these tough economic times, there are numerous options to cut costs. Those options include work furloughs, reduced work-weeks or reduced salaries, and flexible work arrangements. Yet, employers must take care to structure those measures to avoid legal pitfalls. Leila Narvid of Payne & Fears LLP in San Francisco believes that these options have the benefit of avoiding the decrease in morale that inevitably comes with layoffs. At the same time, she says that “unless carefully planned and regulated, they can expose employers to liability for wage and hour violations.”

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Women Share How They “Ignore Gender” to Achieve Success

iStock_000005327644XSmall_1_.jpgby Anna Collins, Esq. (Portland, Maine)

Just as success means different things to different people, obtaining success for women involves diverse choices and paths. According to a recent Huffington Post article, while some women believe it is necessary to navigate through the gender dynamics in business by focusing on gender when necessary, others actually ignore gender as a blatant strategy for success. In order to understand the trend of “ignoring gender” as a means to achieve success, we spoke to several women about their own paths to success. Of course, “ignoring gender” means different things to different people.

For Marlene Mitchell Gordon, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel for Burger King Corporation , “ignoring gender” means treating each person as a human being rather than male or female. She recalls how one male colleague seemed uncomfortable with her. When she realized that he had never before worked with a woman of color, she proceeded to ignore gender and race by working to build a relationship with him focused on getting to know him as a person and allowing him to get to know her. By taking initiative to learn about his background and experiences and sharing her background and experiences with him, they found that they shared common experiences. This led to them forging a strong business relationship based on mutual respect and trust. As a result, Ms. Gordon found that her gender and race were quickly non-issues.

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In Case You Missed It: News Round-Up

martin.jpgContributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group

In case you were too busy to have kept up with all the news, contributor Martin Mitchell has gathered some important market events from last week to help you start this week well informed:

Mergers and Acquisitions

  • As had been rumoured last week, mining group Rio Tinto announced a $19.5bn cash injection from Chinese state-owned Chinalco. The deal involves Chinalco buying $7.2bn of convertible bonds, plus spending $12.3bn talking minority stakes in some of Rio Tinto’s best mining assets. The bonds consist of two tranches that will pay 9% and 9.5% coupons and mature in 7 years. If converted, they will increase Chinalco’s stake from 9% to 18%.

  • Again in China, Bank of China has emerged as Beijing’s preferred choice of bidder for AIG’s Asian life assurance unit. The unit is expected to sell for about $20bn.

  • Three more inter-dealer brokers have approached the consortium that is considering bidding for LCH.Clearnet. Tullett-Prebon, GFI Group and Tradition want to join Icap and 10 banks in a counterbid against the non-binding offer from the US Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation.

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The Hestia Fund

by Liz O’Donnell (Boston)

After a career in the non-profit world and a master’s degree from The Kennedy School of Government, Susan Priem heard about the Washington Women’s Fund in Seattle and was inspired to start her own women’s giving circle in Boston. She felt that a group of women acting collectively could make a greater impact than several individuals. So in 1999 she talked to a few of her friends and the following year along with eight other women, she started what is now known as the Hestia Fund. The group is named for Hestia, the Greek goddess of the hearth.

Priem’s vision was that each woman would give an equal amount of money to invest in a cause of their choosing and would make a three year commitment to the organization. Early on, the women of Hestia agreed to a mission: to positively impact the lives of low-income women and their children living in Massachusetts. The women carry out this mission by giving primarily to after school program.

The original group agreed to each give $5000 and set a goal of increasing the group size to 20 women. By the end of the second year, the group was 40 strong. Last year there were 60 active members and eight members who contribute financially but are not active in the decision making.

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Passions: Roller Derby

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iStock_000001512993XSmall_1_.jpgby Natalie Sabia (New York City)

Rough. Competitive. Supportive. Thrilling. These are all just a few words that describe women’s roller derby. Anya, aka “Hard Anya,” is one of the toughest and most dedicated women on the Gotham Girls Roller Derby team. Hard Anya, which is her skate name, works full time in web development for a tech company; design’s the website for Gotham Girls and serves on the advisory board. “It’s a serious organization, not just a hobby,” said Anya.

Gotham Girls Roller Derby is a not-for-profit organization, which is operated by the skater women. Gotham Girls is New York City’s only all-female roller derby league, which is composed by strong and independent women. “It’s a great network of people both professionally and socially,” said Anya.

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