Bidiversity

Female bosses are advised to approach male teams as if they were from another culture, writes Carly Chynoweth

(From The Sunday Times – Appointments – Page 6 – 13:09:2009)

Christina Ioannidis - CEO of Aquitude.

Just who do you trust at work? And who trusts you? It might depend on whether you are a man or a woman, according to a study published this month. The survey by the Institute of Leadership and Management and the magazine Management Today found that men are more likely to trust their boss if he is a man rather than a woman. On the other hand, women are more likely to trust female line managers.

This presents particular challenges for women who are working in, or leading, all-male teams, said Christina Ioannidis, chief executive of Aquitude, a leadership and organisational development consultancy.

“What this really shows is that we prefer working for people who are like ourselves,” she said. “Women need to understand that, when they are working in an environment where they are in a minority, they may need to adapt their leadership style.”

Ideally, of course, businesses would help both men and women to understand and work with their different styles, but women who want to get ahead in male-dominated teams should also take things into their own hands, said Ioannidis.

“It’s not about changing who you are but being intelligent about how you approach a different culture. If you were going to a business meeting in Japan you would do a little bit of cross-cultural training, so this is what [women should] do when it comes to working in an all-male environment.”

One of the biggest areas of conflict is hierarchy. For men, the leader calls the shots; try to take a more female-orientated democratic approach and you will be seen as challenging the leader’s authority and possibly sidelined.

“Women have a tendency to talk to managers and question their thoughts,” said Ioannidis. “But male leaders see this as a challenge and are likely to interpret it as mutiny.”

However, this does not mean that raising concerns and questions is impossible; it just means that you need to get the timing right. “If you want to ask a question, do it before the decision has been made,” she said. This is one of the reasons it is important to go to the pub: “You may not like it, but decisions are made there.”

Body language has a part to play too. Women who want to assert themselves in meetings, for example, should avoid perching on the edge of the chair.

“It is important when you are in a meeting with men around the table to occupy as much space as they do to show them that you are comfortable being there,” said Ioannidis.

Jan Peters, president of the Women’s Engineering Society, has worked in a lot of mostly-male teams and encountered plenty of sexism as well as many positive experiences. “People would say things like it was my job to wash the lab coats or the glassware, even though I was as professionally qualified as they were,” she said. “I responded by getting cross. It didn’t work. Then I laughed and made a joke of it. That didn’t make a difference either, because it was like approval. Instead, you have to say ‘grow up and stop behaving like my younger brother’.” People may well be affronted for a while but they will get over it, she said.

However, Peters also thinks women need to understand that sometimes statements that may feel like a personal attack are not meant that way.

Men are good at being able to have vigorous work-related arguments without seeing criticism of their ideas as anything personal, and women need to be able to do the same, said Ioannidis.
One of the biggest challenges facing women in male-dominated teams is the need to build up their profiles, according to Suzanne Doyle-Morris, author of Beyond the Boys’ Club. “It is critical for women to draw attention to their achievements. Women can feel uncomfortable doing this – many are more comfortable with working hard and expecting other people to see what they have accomplished. Waiting to be noticed simply isn’t effective.

“Profile-building is vital because failing to do it will lead to other people thinking of you as less ambitious and less keen to get ahead,” said Doyle-Morris. “I have seen many women get upset because they have done great work but have been passed over for, say, speaking opportunities in favour of male colleagues, but often it’s simply because the man knew to ask for the opportunity and she didn’t.”

Equally, don’t assume that all difficulties about fitting into a team are necessarily about gender, said Angela Mohtashemi, a director at Price Water-house Coopers. She has seen men struggle to fit in to a team of “alpha male types who … behaved like a clan without much challenge”. She said: “Individually they were fine, but as a group they took on a new persona, and it was as difficult for some of the new men as it had been for me. The new chaps who challenged the status quo were sidelined and dismissed in a way that was all too familiar to me.” It is up to newcomers of both sexes to prove why they should be accepted in to the group.

Tara Ricks, managing director of Joslin Rowe, a financial- services recruitment firm, agreed. “To some extent, the gender make-up of teams and departments can be a red herring. The truth is that the secret to being a good manager, whether male or female and whatever the split of your new team, is to manage people as individuals. This also applies to more junior women – and indeed men – when they join male-dominated teams. It’s up to them to build their contacts and their reputations based on the work they do to ensure that they are contributing as effectively as possible.”

Peters said: “When you are in a minority you have to take some responsibility for engaging with the people in the majority until you find some common ground. You need to make the effort.” Once you have that first connection in place you will start to become part of the team, which will make it easier to start other conversations.

Mohtashemi also recommended finding high-profile advocates – men and women – who can be mentors or guides. “The key thing is to have several sponsors who will be supportive, tell you who to work with and who to avoid. My immediate leader is very supportive, receptive and fair. I trust him and know that if others are questioning my credentials, he will challenge them.”