In many of the companies I have worked in, there is a very high proportion of male managers to females. This causes a major challenge in the work environment, (although many of them are unaware it is an important issue).

The women know that with a more balanced hierarchy, and viewing things from a totally different perspective this would increase morale, save time and money.

Women are naturally good at developing relationships, nurturing, caring and sharing whereas men tend not to be as sensitive and prefer to "get on with it".

I've noticed many managers are out of touch with the fundamental issues in their departments, especially the 'people issues'.

Often managers are promoted to their positions, not because they know how to manage people but because they are good at doing their job. A salesperson may be great at selling the products of his organisation and then gets promoted to Sales Manager. He knows the product and makes plenty of sales and suddenly he is faced with managing a team of salespeople...a totally different experience.

And for some unknown reason it is automatically assumed he has the skills to handle this new position.

Communicating With The Opposite Sex

Managing and communicating with people is a skill that for most of us doesn't come naturally. It's even more challenging communicating with the opposite sex effectively.

I was having a meeting with a manager and his personal assistant recently. The p.a. had a list of things to discuss in regard to improving their joint office systems.

Instead of providing the male manager with a brief summary of each issue she wanted to raise, the p.a. delivered a sermon for each one.

You could see the manager switch off after the first couple of sentences and become impatient. She, on the other hand didn't notice anything.

In another company a female manager never received any recognition from her male boss that she was doing a great job. In fact she felt very downhearted and left the organisation because she felt she wasn't appreciated. Her ex-boss old me afterwards that she was the best manager in his organisation and he couldn't understand why she left.

The Final Word

So learn how to communicate with the opposite sex in your organisation and in your life. A great book to read is "Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps" by Alan and Barbara Pease www.pease.com.au.

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