{"id":3164,"date":"2022-03-22T14:12:27","date_gmt":"2022-03-22T14:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/contemporaryleadership.com\/staging\/1870\/?p=3164"},"modified":"2022-04-11T15:58:44","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T15:58:44","slug":"what-your-gender-says-about-who-you-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/contemporaryleadership.com\/staging\/1870\/what-your-gender-says-about-who-you-know\/","title":{"rendered":"What Your Gender Says About Who You Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In light of International Women\u2019s Day, we\u2019ve been thinking a lot about the amazing powers of women leaders and what makes them effective. Leadership is increasingly defined as a set of relationships, rather than a set of qualities or behaviors. Essentially, without people to lead, there is no leader. With this in mind, we were interested in how male and female leaders differ in the relationships they build and foster.<\/p>\n<p>To this end, we analyzed the networks of close to 600 employees at a ~$2B life sciences company. From this study, we came away with two important findings. The first is that across levels, women were overall more relational than men. In other words, on average, women had more incoming and outgoing relationships than did their male counterparts. As you can see from Figure 1, this finding was true across multiple relationship types: trust (i.e., who has your back in a difficult situation at work), problem solving (i.e., who do you turn to for help solving difficult problems), decision-making (i.e., whose advice do you seek when making important decisions), etc. The one exception was in terms of strategy. Fewer people reported turning to women to discuss strategy. However, we believe this is largely a result of the disproportionate number of men at the top of the formal hierarchy where strategy conversations are largely concentrated.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Figure 1: Relationships by Gender<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3173 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/contemporaryleadership.com\/staging\/1870\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Relationships-by-Gender.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"987\" height=\"421\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This finding, that women are more relational than men, suggests that women may be particularly well suited to lead in fast-paced, complex environments. \u00a0Research clearly shows that the stronger a leader\u2019s network, the more resilient they are (Cross et al., 2021). \u00a0Those with more robust networks are better able to bounce back from setbacks because their supportive relationships bolster their abilities to manage stress, reframe challenges and feel a sense of purpose at work. As a result, woman may be better able to handle disruptive events.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, in the past, a leader\u2019s influence and impact was largely determined by their position in the formal hierarchy. While a higher-level position still conveys greater influence, it is no longer the only thing that matters. In today\u2019s fast-paced, complex environment, where leaders need to pull together and integrate cross-functional expertise outside the formal hierarchy, it is increasingly important for leaders to influence horizontally, across organizational silos. In this way, with broader, more diverse networks, women leaders are at an advantage when it comes to getting work done through others quickly and nimbly.<\/p>\n<p>The second finding from our analysis was that women and men tend to cluster based on gender. Across all levels, men were significantly more likely to establish relationships with other men and women were more likely to establish relationships with other women (See Figure 2). This corroborates previous findings suggesting that people tend to connect with others they perceive as similar to themselves (Montoya et al., 2008). The challenge with this phenomenon is that, as noted, there are often more males at senior levels of the organization than females. As a result, women may have fewer opportunities to get mentored by senior executives, which we know is pivotal to how quickly an individual is promoted as well as how much they are compensated (Quast, 2008).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Figure 2: Organizational Network<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3174 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/contemporaryleadership.com\/staging\/1870\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Gender-ONA.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"968\" height=\"857\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that there are clear ways to help women get plugged into strategy discussions and find mentors and help men develop broader networks. And, organizations can accomplish both objectives with similar solutions. One way to do this is to create a structured mentoring across differences program, in which mentors and mentees are paired across gender boundaries. A second approach is to conduct <span style=\"color: #f33c52;\"><a style=\"color: #f33c52;\" href=\"https:\/\/contemporaryleadership.com\/staging\/1870\/using-peer-learning-circles-as-a-critical-tool-for-navigating-the-disruptive-business-environment\/\">Peer Learning Circles (PLCs)<\/a><\/span>, or small, facilitated cohorts of diverse leaders across an organization who learn from one another in a structured way. PLCs expand a leader\u2019s network by nature, fostering natural relationships for male and female leaders alike. In separate research, we\u2019ve found that PLCs can increase cross-enterprise networks by close to 500%. Finally, organizations can use platforms, such as\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #f33c52;\"><a style=\"color: #f33c52;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tenthousandcoffees.com\/\">Ten Thousand Coffees<\/a><\/span> which automatically match employees based on individual and business objectives. Through the platform, underrepresented groups can be intentionally paired with leaders to grow their networks and give them valuable mentorship opportunities. By collecting participants\u2019 goals and interests, the platform uses its Smart Matching technology to create connections and\/or mentor\/mentee matches. Whichever tactic is chosen, by creating a program that connects leaders across differences, organizations can drive gender equity and support leaders in building and optimizing the right networks to improve engagement and get work done.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>References<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Cross, R., Dillon, K., &amp; Greenberg, D. (2021). \u201cThe secret to building resilience.\u201d Harvard Business Review. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0Montoya, R. M., Horton, R. S., &amp; Kirchner, J. (2008). Is actual similarity necessary for attraction?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>A meta-analysis of actual and perceived similarity.\u00a0Journal of Social and Personal Relationships,\u00a025(6), 889-922.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Quast, L. (2011). \u201cHow becoming a mentor can boost your career.\u201d Forbes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In light of International Women\u2019s Day, we\u2019ve been thinking a lot about the amazing powers of women leaders and what&hellip;<\/p>\n<a class=\"btn btn-lg btn-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/contemporaryleadership.com\/staging\/1870\/what-your-gender-says-about-who-you-know\/\">Read More<\/a>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Your Gender Says About Who You Know - STAGING Contemporary Leadership Advisors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Your Gender Says About Who You Know - STAGING Contemporary Leadership Advisors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In light of International Women\u2019s Day, we\u2019ve been thinking a lot about the amazing powers of women leaders and what&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/contemporaryleadership.com\/staging\/1870\/what-your-gender-says-about-who-you-know\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"STAGING Contemporary Leadership Advisors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-22T14:12:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-11T15:58:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Luke Twomey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Luke Twomey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contemporaryleadership.com\\\/staging\\\/1870\\\/what-your-gender-says-about-who-you-know\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contemporaryleadership.com\\\/staging\\\/1870\\\/what-your-gender-says-about-who-you-know\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Luke Twomey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contemporaryleadership.com\\\/staging\\\/1870\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6f7055d67524baf46873e6e3440e5916\"},\"headline\":\"What Your Gender Says About Who You Know\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-22T14:12:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-11T15:58:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contemporaryleadership.com\\\/staging\\\/1870\\\/what-your-gender-says-about-who-you-know\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":824,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contemporaryleadership.com\\\/staging\\\/1870\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contemporaryleadership.com\\\/staging\\\/1870\\\/what-your-gender-says-about-who-you-know\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/contemporaryleadership.com\\\/staging\\\/1870\\\/what-your-gender-says-about-who-you-know\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contemporaryleadership.com\\\/staging\\\/1870\\\/what-your-gender-says-about-who-you-know\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contemporaryleadership.com\\\/staging\\\/1870\\\/what-your-gender-says-about-who-you-know\\\/\",\"name\":\"What Your Gender Says About Who You Know - 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