The Female Vision: Women's Real Power at Work - Softcover

Helgesen, Sally; Johnson, Julie

 
9781576753828: The Female Vision: Women's Real Power at Work
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1576753824 ISBN 13: 9781576753828
Verlag: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

This groundbreaking study reveals the vital perspective women bring to business—and how to make sure your organization takes full advantage of it.

Women and men experience the world differently. They not only see things differently—they also see different things. Men tend to have a bottom line, linear way of thinking. Women are more empathetic, more aware of the critical impact of interpersonal factors both within and without the organization. Everyone knows that both perspectives are important, yet organizations only reward traditionally male points of view.

Drawing on extensive research and workplace experience, Sally Helgesen and Julie Johnson demonstrate that the female perspective is the underutilized asset so many companies need to succeed. They delve into the stories of women whose vision improved their companies—even as they had to struggle against unresponsive organizations, dismissive managers, and their own personal fears.

The Female Vision also show how companies can create environments that welcome and encourage women to share what they notice, to the benefit of the organization as a whole—including the bottom line.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sally Helgesen is a renowned speaker and the author of five books, including the classic bestseller The Female Advantage and The Web of Inclusion.
Julie Johnson, a graduate of Harvard Business School, is a pioneer in the field of executive coaching and has coached many of the most successful women in the Fortune 500.

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What Women See

What we notice, what we believe is important, and what we perceive life should be are the primary components that shape our vision. The more authentically we understand, express, and act on the distinctive aspects of what we see, the greater our contribution will be and the more we’ll fulfill our purpose in the world.

Translating vision into practice is challenging for anyone, but it can be especially difficult for women in organizations. This is because what women see can be out of sync with what the workplace expects. Having entered the workplace in significant numbers and having begun to assume positions of authority and influence only in the last thirty years, women have had little opportunity to shape the culture of work—its values, assumptions, and expectations.

The disconnect between what organizations expect and what women at their best have to offer has become an issue as workplace demands have grown more intense. Companies today require more from their people—more time, greater commitment, fresher ideas, a continual learning curve. Thriving in this environment requires passion and engagement. But it’s difficult to feel fully engaged when your vision, your fundamental way of seeing things, is not understood, recognized, or valued. And it’s tough to feel passionate when you feel unable to bring what is best about yourself to your work.

When women’s ways of seeing are not validated, it short-changes women, requiring them to exercise their skills without drawing on the full power of what they notice and value. Operating at less than full capacity undermines their effectiveness and their ability to feel authentic, as well as keeping them from being fully present in the moment. It can also leach away the zestfulness and fun that comes from engaging what is best within themselves and putting that forth into the world.

When women’s ways of seeing are not validated, it also shortchanges their organizations, narrowing the base of talents and ideas from which they can draw. In a global environment where change is constant, companies need to be nimble, innovative, and very smart, which is why relying on the usual suspects to do the usual things in the usual way is no longer effective. When organizations fail to appreciate the fullness and scope of what women have to offer, they diminish their capacity to “think outside the box”—a frequently stated objective—because the blinders they require their people to wear keep them firmly inside it.

We’ve all seen what happens when women’s ways of seeing are not recognized or are dismissed as being beside the point. The consequences play out on a large scale—which we’ll explore later—and in the smallest interactions.

For example, Jim and Jill are walking out of a sales meeting in which the regional manager has been outlining the sales figures he expects their team to meet in the next quarter. As they step into the hall, Jim, who was scribbling down numbers during the presentation, says, “I figure it’s doable if we can get client X to expand his budget by 6 percent while cutting our costs by $3.2 million.”

Jill nods. “That sounds about right. But did you notice how Ron in the back of the room seemed depressed? He’s usually so outgoing and engaged.”

Jim doesn’t respond. He’s wondering why Jill is making an irrelevant comment. She needs to be thinking about how they can make their numbers, not worrying about what someone else is feeling. Besides, Jim wasn’t looking at Ron. For one thing, he doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head. Plus, he was focused on the presentation, which is exactly what the regional manager would expect.

Jill was paying attention, too, but not in a single-minded way. For example, she was aware that some of the attendees couldn’t hear what the presenter was saying—not surprising since he has a habit of speaking too fast and then getting testy when someone asks him to repeat his remarks. But it was Ron’s disinterest that most caught her attention. He’s key to the team’s effort, and it’s going to be a rough road for everyone if he’s struggling.

Still, it’s clear to Jill that Jim doesn’t want to pursue the subject. She’s not sure she can make him understand that she was engaged by the presentation but was also taking in a lot of other things. She also wants to signal to him that she’s on board. So she says simply, “I think your numbers are right on target.”

This brief exchange typifies a fundamental dynamic that occurs thousands of time every day in the workplace. Both Jim and Jill are bringing useful information to their encounter: Jim by proposing specifics that could move the team ahead, Jill by noting a potential problem that could undermine it. Both Jim’s focus and Jill’s active antenna offer clear benefits to their sales team.

However, Jim can’t see the value in what Jill is trying to contribute, nor has Jill framed her observations in a way that compels Jim’s interest. Once Jill senses his skepticism, she backs off rather than persisting in trying to make her case. She gives up on trying to help Jim understand what she sees and tries to placate him instead. As a result, the team misses out on potentially vital information. And Jill winds up ignoring her own best insights, thereby undermining the value she could otherwise bring to the effort.

Such incidents occur because what Jill notices, believes is important, and perceives her company should be—the components of her vision—are to a large extent countercultural in her organization. Sure, the senior executives talk a lot about how “our people are our most important asset.” They even had the phrase printed up as a “vision statement” on a laminated card. But it’s not their authentic vision because it doesn’t reflect what they actually notice or value or how they operate. It’s just some-thing the president’s speechwriter thought would sound good.

Jim accepts the discrepancy between what the company says and how it acts, and forges ahead. But Jill can’t help wishing the company would match its actions to its words. If it did, she’d feel more at home and would have more to contribute. The company would also be a better place to work and would probably have better relationships with clients as a result.

But there’s another reason that Jill’s observations are not particularly valued in her organization, and that has to do with numbers. Most of what she notices, values, and would like to see can’t be easily quantified or expressed by an equation. Many of her perceptions are relatively subjective. By contrast, Jim and the regional division head pride themselves on sticking to what the numbers tell them. The sales VP whom they report to is known for cutting discussions short with a brusque, “Just get to the bottom line.” This reflects the company’s presumption that numbers are not only an essential business tool but the final determinant of value.

Jill was a math whiz in college, and she can tote up a spreadsheet with the best of them. But she’s never believed that numbers tell the whole story. She can’t deliver an algorithm to prove that Ron is in a fragile state or offer a figure that quantifies how much his distraction could cost the sales team. Unable to put what she notices in a numerical frame, she can’t figure out how to advocate for the value of her observations—so she ends up backing off entirely. She stuffs what she sees, and as a result her interaction with Jim is less authentic and productive than it...

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Verlag
Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Erscheinungsdatum
2010
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1576753824
ISBN 13 
9781576753828
Einband
Taschenbuch
Auflage
1
Anzahl der Seiten
168
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Eu comply OÜ
hello@eucompliancepartner.com

Pärnu mnt. 139b-14
Tallinn
11317
Estland

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