Davidhizar and Cramer tell us that the way men and women communicate is one of several dimensions where men and women differ in their leadership styles and behaviors. They point out that men tend to be more aggressive and women less aggressive in the way they communicate.
While working as a sales manager for a pharmaceutical company I had seven women and three men on my team. Two of the women were very aggressive in their communications with clients. Two other women were very timid in their approach. Pharmaceutical sales can be discouraging since representatives must learn to deal with a lot of waiting and rejection. It is helpful to have a polite, but assertive approach in order to meet with key physicians. Davidhizar and Cramer point out that in the past "women sought to rival men with a commanding and controlling masculine style rather than using an...approach associated with femininity". When faced with rejection or long waits to see a physician, the aggressive women on my team felt that they were not being respected and needed to act more aggressive in order to gain appropriate attention. In dong so, they became overbearing and were not successful. On the other extreme, the timid communicators never made an attempt to be more aggressive and had little success in gaining access to physicians.
As a manager I tried to coach them on their approaches, but was not having the impact needed to correct the problem. I hired an expert on women in the workforce who gave a presentation on "assertive selling". She addressed several issues related to women in the workplace, including how to find the appropriate level of assertiveness in communication skills. She talked to them about finding the balance in being polite (feminine style), but powerful (masculine style). The women benefited from a successful women addressing some of the issues that were important to their success in the profession. It also allowed me to refer back to the lessons learned in follow-up coaching sessions. The men also benefited from the workshop, since it helped them in their communication skills as well. Overall, everyone's communication skills improved.
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References:
Davidhizar, R., Carmer, C. (2000). Gender differences in leadership in the health professions. Health Care Management. Aspen Publications, Inc. pp. 18 -24.
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