When companies have a good balance of masculine and feminine strengths, they are better able to serve all customers and employees of every gender thrive.

Did you know that companies (like people) are masculine, feminine or a blend of both? As male/female partners working in leadership and gender, we believe that companies with a sensible blend of masculine and feminine energy outperform those that don’t. When companies have a good balance of masculine and feminine strengths, they are better able to serve all customers and employees of every gender thrive. However, many companies, even those with good gender diversity, end up with a culture that is either too masculine or too feminine.

This article is part of a broader conversation to help you determine if your company is too masculine, feminine or a healthy blend of both. We assert that stereotypes (men are masculine, women are feminine) undermine gender balance while archetypes (masculine and feminine applies to all) support gender balance. A good first step is to understand the Masculine and Feminine as archetypal energies that can be cultivated independent of gender.

Companies with a strongly masculine culture have many desirable qualities. Such companies value brand, efficiency and accountability. However, some of those companies also resist feminine ways of operating such as being inclusive, organic and thoughtful because they equate those attributes with lost time and productivity.   In those companies the culture prevents full exploration of creative alternatives and performance suffers.

If you suspect that your company is off balance, it can be helpful to determine the nature of your company’s leaning.   If you lean toward the masculine side of the equation that is fine, as long as you don’t shut down the feminine side. Some companies are just too masculine for their own good. Here are 5 signs that your company may be over the line:

• Death by PowerPoint. Masculine energy is all about being up front, and on top. These are excellent values. But when companies are too masculine, meetings and events become overly “top down” and instructional. Meetings become a place to showboat expertise and knowledge. This in itself is not a bad thing. But when back-to-back presentations crowd out rich exchange of ideas they become boring and stale. Open discussions, if any, are tightly controlled. If your company leans this way you will see presentations crammed with facts, small fonts, few graphics and agendas packed with no time to discuss key decisions. Introductions are superficial and no time is given for emergent ideas to bubble up.

• Teambuilding = games. Masculine energy is all about competition so teambuilding and bonding happens in the context of games. “Work hard, play hard” is an expression of this belief system. While games can be fun and generate team insights it seldom allows for deeper conversations about team relationships. If your team is avoiding conversations that address team dynamics, they are missing a key piece of building a high performing team. Good teambuilding addresses feelings, personality clashes, attitudes and emerging dysfunctions. When these conversations are not held regularly resentments deepen and fester.In overly masculine companies you also often see teambuilding happening around drinks at the bar where people are often more real with each other. But these conversations held in pairs seldom addresses the collective team dysfunctions that ultimately stack up when unattended. When this attitude reaches toxic levels teambuilding events become wasteful “boondoggles” staged to stroke the executive ego. When this happens line employees lose hope of being heard or that any thing will ever change.

• Silos. In a masculine company, structure and titles are highly prized. Both preserve the order of the hierarchy making it clear who is in charge. But in companies that are too masculine divisions become fiefdoms competing for resources and hoarding customer relationships to gain power. Cross-organizational collaboration is limited to only what the job requires hampering the innovation that comes from serendipitous discoveries of cooperating teams.Sometimes the company itself becomes so insular it becomes it’s own silo. All outsiders are distrusted. Outside hires are marginalized and consultants are held at arms length. Rather than tapping into the power of potential partnerships, siloed companies tend to build a taller wall to hold on to market share.If politics and having to “watch your back” is an every day worry than this is a sure sign that your company has masculine energy un-balanced by feminine energy.

• Burnout. Strongly masculine cultures have a “tough guy” mentality. In such cultures hard work and long hours are a source of pride. Taking care of business is the only imperative and burnout is the norm. This problem is often exasperated when globally distributed teams stretch the work day across many time zones with no regard for sacrificed family time or employees working beyond their productive limit. If you are reticent to ask your boss for personal time to address your personal needs, your company is probably too masculine. When this kind of culture takes over you often find people pretending to work while subversively surfing the Internet and searching for a new job.

• Status Quo Rules. Does your manager cringe if you bring up new ideas or veer from the “plan”? Do you often hear “that’s just not how we do things around here”? Masculine cultures value order and stability. New ideas that upset the normal course are viewed as impeding progress. In strongly masculine cultures you often see processes become entrenched that don’t allow for variation or exceptions to the rule. “Yes men” (and women) are rewarded for their loyalty and ability to play by the rules without exception. People that are inventive are often branded as renegades that don’t fit the culture.

When taken to an extreme, an overly masculine company feels like a mindless machine where employees become mindless cogs. While mindless machines are extremely efficient they lack the ability to respond to changing markets and can quickly become “dinosaurs” at risk of becoming obliterated by the next disruptive technology.

If you are scoring 5 for 5 on these signs, don’t despair, there are solutions. The most obvious one is to hire for gender diversity. But, diversifying the workforce alone is not enough. Overly masculine companies often disenfranchise women leading to eventual attrition.

Ideally, company leadership intentionally embraces the value proposition of balanced masculine and feminine energy and allows it to be fully expressed by both men and women. In doing so, companies can accelerate movement towards not only a more harmonious workplace but also a more profitable one.

Photo credit: ID 45306192 © Adam121 | Dreamstime.com

Patty Beach and Roger Toennis believe that some companies are too culturally feminine. Healthy companies blend both masculine and feminine aspects in their culture.

This is a follow-up post to 5 Signs Your Company Is Too Masculine.

This article is part 2 of a 3 part series to help you determine if your company is too masculine, too feminine or a healthy blend of both. As male/female partners working in leadership and gender, we believe that companies with a sensible blend of masculine and feminine energy outperform those that don’t. When companies have a good balance of masculine and feminine strengths, they are better able to serve all customers, and employees of every gender thrive. However, many companies, even those with good gender diversity, end up with a culture that is either too masculine or too feminine.

We assert that stereotypes (men are masculine, women are feminine) undermine gender balance while archetypes (the Masculine and the Feminine applies to all) support gender balance. A good first step is to understand the Masculine and Feminine as archetypal energies that are accessible no matter what gender you are.

Companies with a strongly feminine culture have many desirable qualities. Such companies often have strong cultures focused on being inclusive, organic and considerate of others. However, some of those companies also resist masculine ways of operating such as creating clear accountability and enforcing rules and policies. This resistance is based in fear that employees may feel hurt and left out. Most American businesses lean towards the Masculine, yet many newer, mission-driven and governmental organizations lean strongly towards a more feminine way of operating.

If you suspect that your company or organization is out of balance, the first step is to determine the nature of your company’s leaning. A company may lean strongly toward the feminine side, and depending on the nature of the work this may be appropriate. However, it’s important that this leaning doesn’t completely shut down masculine energy. Some organizations are just too feminine for their own good. Here are 5 signs that your company may be unbalanced in an overly feminine way:

• Everyone is included in every decision. Feminine energy focuses on creating a cohesive family environment. Feminine companies are often quite egalitarian. But when companies are too feminine the decision process bogs down when everyone has to be included in every decision. While including others in decisions provides diverse opinions and fresh ideas, this approach can also be inefficient and problematic. This is especially true if those included in the decision making process aren’t informed enough to make an educated recommendation and default to making a choice based on popularity rather than a clear business imperative. Do you have to take a poll for every decision? Do you have to sit through endless meetings that don’t produce clear outcomes? Do you feel you have to cc everyone on all emails to not exclude anyone? If so, this is a sign your company leans too far toward the feminine.

• Poor performance lingers. Feminine energy also focuses on taking care of others. In overly feminine companies poor performers are not challenged to deliver. In some extreme cases you find unspoken policies that people can never be fired unless they do something illegal that puts the company at risk. Often in too feminine companies frustrated managers correct bad performance by doing the work of their direct reports instead of holding them accountable. Mistakes, even when noticed, may go uncorrected due to fears that constructive feedback will result in hurt feelings. Often in overly feminine companies employees are rewarded based on the length of time they hold the job rather than on competency or solid performance. This results in poor performers in positions of leadership and over compensated senior professionals running the company.

• Just when do we work around here? In a too feminine company rules and policies are fuzzy making it difficult to adhere to guidelines that govern productivity. Rules regarding time are especially disregarded. You often see liberal policies around clocking in and out and taking time off. This also makes it hard to schedule meetings, especially when too many people are needed to make decisions. Meetings often start late and go long to allow time to chat and make sure every opinion is heard. Often too you just see too many meetings, with too many people resulting in no time to do any of the work items generated by all these endless meetings. Often in overly feminine companies a handful of key people very loyal to the mission end up putting in extra time to make up for others who are slacking. These high performers can sometimes get branded as being overzealous “Type A’s”. They may even be warned by their managers to “be more patient” in order to not make others look bad by comparison.

• Fuzzy accountability. Strongly feminine cultures tend to have a “wait and see” mentality. In those cultures metrics and even clear goals are avoided because they tend to make people feel exposed and vulnerable. When organizations don’t have metrics all outcomes may be viewed as progress, and success is celebrated even when the opposite is true. In overly feminine companies you also often see uncommitted conversations (conversations about something). Uncommitted conversations often end where no one knows what was decided. What overly feminine cultures lack are committed conversations (conversations for something). In committed conversation people propose solutions, what they are up to and by when. Do you finish meetings confused about what will happen next? Is follow up often lacking? If yes, this is a sure sign that you are in an overly feminine company that needs some masculine structure.

• Being “nice” rules. In many overly feminine cultures there is a lot of pressure to be politically correct and “nice”. Political correctness creates a code of how to behave to minimize offending anyone. But this can also have the unintended consequence of preventing full open expression of doubts and reservations that are needed to minimize risks.

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In “nice” cultures diplomacy is valued over being frank. This results in soft conversations that just talk around issues instead of directly addressing issues honestly and openly. When “nice” is the norm you also see a lot of triangulation and gossip. Triangulation occurs when person A has a problem with person B, but instead of speaking to person B directly they go to person C to talk about it with the false hope that person C will help person B make a change. Of course, this approach tends to backfire especially when person B finds out about these “behind their back conversations” and basic trust is broken.

If you are scoring 5 for 5, on these signs, don’t despair, there are solutions. The most obvious one is to hire for gender diversity. But, diversifying the workforce alone is not enough. Overly feminine companies often disenfranchise men and face the real risk of losing ground because they just aren’t competitive enough. Ideally, company leadership intentionally embraces the value proposition of balanced masculine and feminine energy and allows it to be fully expressed by both men and women. In doing so, companies can accelerate movement towards not only a more harmonious workplace, but also a more profitable one.

Photo credit: Vladimir Tronin

This article is number three of a three-part series designed to help you shift your organizational culture to a healthy blend of masculine and feminine energy that is what we call high Versatility. Part one is 5 Signs Your Company Culture is Too Masculine and Part two is  5 Signs Your Company Culture is Too Feminine.

If you have read the first two parts of our 3 part series, you may have already identified signs that your company is either too masculine or too feminine. If so, the logical next question is, “How can you get the right balance?”

Here are five steps that will help.

Step 1. Understand the Difference Between an Archetype and a Stereotype

An archetype is a situation or behavior that represents a universal pattern of human nature.  Common archetypes include love, religion, heroism, death, birth, life, struggle, and survival.  Archetypes can be helpful constructs because they apply universally to all human beings.  Gender archetypes can help you to explore how women and men can benefit from adopting and leveraging both masculine and feminine behaviors.

Alternatively, stereotypes prevent you from exploring gender topics productively. Stereotypes are entrenched thoughts adopted about groups and individuals by other groups and individuals.  Stereotypes are limiting. They create the expectation that individuals should only adopt behaviors expected for their primary identifying groups (race, gender, age, etc).

With an understanding that masculine does not equal male and feminine does not equal female you become free to test masculine and feminine behaviors as different means to achieve different goals. You also can explore how your beliefs, biases, cultural norms and fears around gender (e.g. homophobia) limit your choices. For example, men tend to be more restricted from choosing feminine behaviors while women tend to have more permission to choose masculine behaviors. The distinction of archetype vs. stereotype allows you to examine unconscious habitual choices and make conscious choices that broaden your horizons.

Text

REMOVE

The Feminine Archetype

• Focus on Others

• Process Oriented

• Collaborative

• Flexible

• Intuition and Emotions

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REMOVE

The Masculine Archetype

• Focus on Self

• Outcome Oriented

• Competitive

• Structured

• Facts and Data

Step 2. Adopt “Both/And” Thinking

As specialists in leadership and gender, we teach that companies with a blend of masculine and feminine energy outperform those that don’t. Proving this assertion using empirical evidence is difficult if not impossible. But proving it using common sense is easy. It just makes sense that when companies have a good balance of masculine and feminine strengths they are better able to serve all customers, and employees of every gender thrive.

Battling over which is better, being masculine or being feminine, just devolves into a losing game for everyone. When presented with the choice to be 1. EITHER competitive OR collaborative or 2. BOTH competitive AND collaborative, there is no contest. Having access to both of these “opposite” strengths is clearly more desirable. It’s like asking, “Would you rather have one dollar or two dollars?”   Who would ever choose one dollar? Having a culture that benefits fully from the range of masculine and feminine attributes is like having a full set off tools in the tool shed.

Step 3. Seek Versatility

Masculine and Feminine archetypes are paired opposite patterns of behavior that cover the full spectrum of our human nature.   In Chinese culture the term Yin is synonymous with the Feminine and Yang is synonymous with the Masculine. According to Wikipedia, Yin/Yang philosophy explains how apparently opposite or contrary forces are actually complementary and interdependent and create a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the parts. The counterbalanced yin/yang symbol represents the sum of the forces behind everything. It also contains visual clues on how to dynamically achieve harmony and stability. Just as architects and designers use yin/yang awareness to create buildings that are both inviting and utilitarian, you can use this same awareness to create high functioning work environments.

While the virtues of having yin/yang balance are also known in Western Culture they are not as often pursued or talked about. You can talk about the value of seeking yin/yang balance at work, but let’s face it, that probably won’t fly in most US business environments. Instead, we suggest an alternative term, "Versatility.” Versatility is just a way to describe an environment where any gender can thrive and the full range of masculine and feminine behaviors complement rather than overpower each other.

Step 4. Cultivate a Higher “G–Factor”

Many studies show that adding women to the mix increases business profits.   For example, a McKinsey & Company study showed that high organizational performance and profitability measures correlate with companies that have higher numbers of women in management. As a result of these types of findings and others like them many companies are aggressively hiring and promoting women.

Because male dominated professions tend to be more lucrative and higher status than female dominated professions, there are far less studies that assert the merits of increasing men in female dominated professions. While fewer in number, those studies also exist and reinforce the efforts of the few brave men that pursue careers in those fields. For example, one study showed that nursing shifts with more men tend to have higher morale, while another study showed that pupils of male teachers tend to value hard work and have higher self esteem. What clearly shines through these studies is the fact gender diversity is truly a source of competitive advantage.

To support pursuit of a higher gender diversity we have coined a new metric we call the “G-Factor.” G-Factor is simply a measure of the gender diversity of your team. Raising your team’s G-factor will not only expand your team’s range of strengths, it will also allow you to more effectively target your full range of customers.   The G-Factor can be used to increase awareness of gender equity in teams, organizations at large, layers of management and even sectors (e.g. engineering, education, etc.).

Step 5. Cultivate a Higher “V-Factor”

Masculine behaviors tend to be a better choice for some situations while feminine behaviors are a better choice for other situations. By expanding your ability to thoughtfully choose both masculine and feminine behaviors independent of your gender or your team’s G-Factor, we expand our versatility or what we are calling our V-Factor. V-Factor is our ability to span both masculine and feminine strengths as needed and over time to cultivate a healthy balance between these two opposite styles. In many cultures there is an unconscious suppression of either the Masculine or the Feminine side leading to an unhealthy culture. This can be true even in companies that have a high G-Factor.

Did you know that on Facebook you can select up to 75 different terms to customize your gender identity? This is one of many signs that our society is opening to accept the full range of gender diversity. Despite this change studies show that over 41% of LGBT employees remain closeted. Another study shows that closeted employees are 10% less productive at work. As more employees take the brave step of revealing their true gender identity at work, we hope they will find a home in organizations that support full inclusion. Raising your company’s V-Factor will also help your organization to move towards a culture where all employees are free to be themselves and thus productively engaged.

By intentionally cultivating a higher V-Factor at 3 different levels of an organization, you can cultivate a culture with true Gender Energy Balance at every level of the system: 1. Personal 2. Interpersonal and 3. Organizational.

• At the Personal level you can examine the degree to which your behaviors are balanced. If you can become as adept at feminine behaviors as masculine then you raise your personal V-Factor.

• At the Interpersonal level you can expand your V-Factor by effectively partnering to leverage opposite energy and create balance. If you have a strongly masculine style you can choose to partner with someone with a strongly feminine style. In valuing what he/she brings to the partnership you both benefit and become a truly “dynamic duo.”

• At the Organizational level you can look for ways to create and adopt balanced business practices with a balance of masculine and feminine energy. For example you could choose a model for selling your product that is both relationship oriented (feminine side) and results oriented (masculine side).

V-Factor and G-Factor are independent variables that support each other, and, when pursued in tandem, will help realize the full potential that mixed gender work environments provide. Many organizations put a lot of effort in to recruiting women, only to find that women leave the company at a higher rate than men.  If that is the case, they likely have an environment where women feel marginalized. By focusing on raising their V-Factor they will find that not only will women feel more engaged and loyal, men will as well, in part because an organization with a higher V-Factor is just a more inviting and productive place to work.

The topic of gender diversity in the workplace is one that requires both courage and sensitivity. In 1972 women only represented 38% of the workforce, today they represent 47% of the general workforce and 57% of the technical and professional workforce.   As more women actively pursue new ways to move out into the work world, their male counterparts have no choice but to respond. Together men and women are experiencing a dramatic shift in life and work, yet we have far to go to even acknowledge let alone adapt to these changes. Talking about ways to work together across gender co-creatively is a long overdue conversation worth having. Hopefully, the terms presented here of gender energy balance, G and V Factors support new ways for that conversation to happen. Regardless of the terms you use, we encourage you to look beyond the surface for the new possibilities and the full range of talents your team’s gender mix provides.

As a female voter and politically active citizen I do my best to participate in the democratic process.  Still, I find it frustrating that I have precious little opportunity to elect women to represent me. While I know that the male politicians I vote for do their best to represent me, I feel disappointed that they tend to surround themselves with male advisors to shape their policies.

This month, Justin Trudeau the Prime Minister of Canada appointed a cabinet with true gender parity, 15 men and 15 women.  This is a historic event that received an underwhelming mention in the press. To offer points of comparison, the Obama cabinet has 11 women and 15 men, while Bush’s cabinet had 25 percent women.  On average, women are outnumbered 2-to-1 by men as state-level cabinet appointees.

Trudeau’s choice to have a 50/50 gender mix is intended to reflect the make up of Canadian citizens to fairly represent all citizens in government decisions and policies.  I feel gratitude to Prime Minister Trudeau for taking the risk of making this bold and courageous move towards true gender parity in government. While I don’t know Trudeau’s thinking, this is the message I receive from his decision:

• Canadian women are citizens he represents
• Canadian women’s needs and opinions matter and women can better represent those needs than men
• Women make worthy and wise advisors.

These messages feel so inspiring I may have to move to Canada.

While many applaud Trudeau’s decision others have argued that many men were more qualified to assume key positions that were given to women.  That may be true when it comes to technical expertise and or previous government experience.  That said, the criteria for being “qualified” is missing a key element: the ability to think, feel and act like a woman.  Trudeau, by appointing women to his cabinet is acknowledging that men and women have key differences in needs, opinions and values that only equal representation can accommodate.  While the women appointed may not be the most technically qualified Canadians to fill cabinet positions, surely by now, there are at least 15 Canadian women competent enough to be highly effective in these strategic positions.

While the intention behind the Trudeau cabinet makeup is mainly about representation there may be additional benefits now that the Cabinet has a higher level of gender diversity.  Both Catalyst and McKinsey have published studies that compare the financial performance of large organizations according to the gender diversity at senior levels, and both found that high returns on equity correlated with greater diversity. A recent study by the Gallup organization of 800 business units in two companies showed that business units with higher gender diversity also had higher average revenues than the business units with less gender diversity.

While it is clear that greater gender diversity leads to better business performance the cause is not clear. Our theory is that not only do mixed gender teams increase differing views, ideas and insights; they also help the whole team and each individual on the team raise their Versatility Factor.  A high Versatility Factor is achieved when an individual or team balances and blends masculine and feminine strengths to solve problems. Our research shows that both men and women prefer working on mixed gender teams, because they not only get better results, they also step out of stereotypical constraints that limit creativity.  An example of this shift was proven in a study of law firms that showed that both male and female associates are more likely to describe themselves as having traditional feminine strengths when more women were in the firm.

While women have been involved in politics and business for many years, it is only recent that a clear business case has been established for women in leadership.  Possibly, because it’s only been a short time that enough corporations have reached the critical mass of women in power for female voices to be heard and for the full impact of their presence to be felt.  Studies show that both women and men on corporate boards with only 1 or 2 women have poor performance however when at least 3 women are on the board performance improves notably.  Most boards are just starting to approach that minimal threshold.

Many women will be closely watching the Trudeau cabinet but hopefully many men will also.  It should be interesting to see which policies and key metrics of government effectiveness (e.g. higher GDP and a lower unemployment rate) are impacted.  What will be even more interesting; is to see if the cabinet focus shifts or expands.  Perhaps priorities and metrics such as pubic health, education and well-being will gain traction.  If so, it will be interesting to note if all key metrics rise or if one problem is just replaced with another.  If this experiment in balanced gender leadership succeeds, it will be a big win not only for women; but for all humankind.

Photo credit: Flickr/Justin Trudeau