By Carol Kinsey Goman, PhD
In the very near future, women will cross the 50% threshold and become the majority of the American workforce. Females already make up the majority of university graduates in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries as well as the majority of professional workers in several wealthy nations (including the United States); moreover, women run some of the world’s great companies, from PepsiCo in America to Areva in France.
As a speaker at business conferences, I’ve addressed organizations around the world, and I’ve seen the genuine commitment that many companies have made to developing the leadership abilities of female employees and to creating workplace environments with family-friendly policies and flexible work arrangements—all in hopes of attracting, retaining, and grooming women for management roles.
However, despite this effort and progress, far too many talented women still bump their heads on the glass ceiling: only 2% of the senior leaders of America’s largest companies (5% in Britain) are women.
In my book, The Nonverbal Advantage: Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work, I talk about the power of silent signals in the workplace. So I was fascinated to come across research that helps explain the frequent failure of even the best-intentioned efforts to develop women leaders.
This research deals with emergent leadership in groups of equal status. And the findings have everything to do with body language.
Doré Butler and Florence Geis at the University of Delaware compared the nonverbal responses to male and female leaders and found that intellectual assertiveness by women in mixed-sex discussions elicits visible nonverbal, negative cues, such as frowns, head shakes, eye contact avoidance, etc. Females taking a leadership role in the group received fewer pleased responses and more displeased responses from fellow group members than male leaders speaking up and offering the same input.
From earlier research, we know that displeased expressions by fellow group members cause a leader’s contribution to be rated less valuable than the identical contribution when embedded with cues of approval. So you can see how women’s ideas can be devalued simply by receiving less positive and more negative responses than men’s contributions of the same objective quality.
Here’s what can happen in a team meeting: A woman states her opinion. In response, negative nonverbal affect cues are displayed, processed, and often mimicked by the entire group to produce a negative consensus about the value of her contribution—and all of this occurs without individuals on the team being aware of what’s happening.
At a time when conscious responses (direct answers on questionnaires, etc.) are becoming increasingly egalitarian, these unconscious responses still reflect discrimination against women taking a leadership role. Since hiring, salary, and promotion opportunities (especially to top leadership positions) often depend on being recognized as an emergent leader, this puts females at a distinct disadvantage.
Three key points:
1. This was a study of leadership behaviors in peer groups. There is no evidence to suggest that women in formal leadership roles generate any greater negative (or less positive) emotional cues than do their male counterparts.
2. This was not about men discounting the contributions of women. The groups in the study had an equal mix of male and female members.
3. The power of nonverbal communication lies its unconscious nature—and bringing the covert into awareness can help nullify its effect. (So, circulate this article!)
If you want to groom women for top positions in your organization, keep doing the things that have proven to be helpful: offer females the coaching, mentors, and career opportunities that develop leadership potential.
However, in addition, pay attention to your own body language. Employees look for and emulate the nonverbal signals they get from their bosses. Current leaders can help create a level playing field for emergent leaders by providing the same cues of positive affect (eye contact, smiling, nodding, leaning forward, etc.) when listening to women as they do when listening to men.
About the Author(s)
Carol Kinsey Goman, PhD is an executive coach, leadership consultant, and international keynote speaker at corporate, government, and association events. She is the author of
The Nonverbal Advantage: Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work, The Silent Language of Leaders: How Body Language Can Help—or Hurt How You Lead, and most recently,
The Truth About Lies in the Workplace: How to Spot Liars and What to Do About Them. For more information, contact
[email protected] or visit:
http://www.ckg.com/