Business problems, gender solutions

By STEVE CAMERON

Staff Writer

The “help wanted” signs are everywhere, in part because once employers attract valuable employees, many struggle to keep them.

Business consultant Barbara Annis says better understanding gender can help.

Annis has studied the relationship between men and women — and how it affects businesses of all sizes — for 25 years. After becoming the first female sales manager at Sony, she took off to launch the Gender Intelligence Group, providing male-female research and strategies for Fortune 500 companies.

“Business managers can reap big rewards by understanding how men and women see the same thing, but look at it through a different lens,” Annis said in an exclusive interview with The Press. “And the key thing is that there isn’t any right or wrong.

“You excel by realizing that both genders have unique views, then taking those views together to help make a decision that might be worth a lot of money.”

Annis is now a sought-after convention speaker and she’s busy launching her fifth book, “Results at the Top: Using Gender Intelligence to Create Breakthrough Growth.”

Although she’s now basking in the success that came with proving men and women can be terrific producers, even as they think and plan differently, Annis has encountered plenty of naysayers along the way.

For instance, she quickly rejected the idea that each gender should fit specific roles, and that employing the same number of men and women somehow produced equality.

“We’ve gotten caught up in political correctness, and it’s led to some big mistakes,” she said. “Numbers don’t mean anything. Women think differently than men, and now we know from scientific studies that women have more blood flow to their brains.

“Exactly how that translates to a woman’s view of things, or her reaction to hearing something as opposed to what a man is hearing, we don’t know yet. But there definitely is a difference.”

Jessica Bauman, owner of Express Employment Professionals in Coeur d’Alene, not only agrees with Annis’s view of the gender mix, but she’s putting it into effect every day.

“Right away I can think of two employees, one man and one woman,” Bauman said. “They have equal strengths when it comes to the bottom line, but they take different paths to get there.

“The man is more technical and thinks strategically,” she said, “while the woman tends to think of how a candidate would relate to other people and the community.

“Both things are very important in what we’re trying to do, so putting their combined viewpoints together is a huge benefit. It absolutely gives me the full picture so I can judge risk and reward.”

Forward-thinking managers like Bauman are tuned in to the idea of using the varied views of men and women, but there was a time — not necessarily so long ago — when Annis had to tough it out when encountering opposition.

Think back a decade or so, when “equal opportunity employment” was enforced like speeding in a school zone, and now consider the gospel according to Barbara Annis.

“When is fairness not fair?” she asked. “When well-intended business leaders build meritocracies where the talented — regardless of their gender — are promoted based on their abilities and achievements.”

Unfortunately, what that really means in most cases is producing a result “the way men do it.”

“It sounds ironic,” Annis said, “but in many ways, the measures of performance in most organizations today unconsciously ensure a glass ceiling remains firmly in place.

“Whether in decision-making, managing projects, closing deals, or leading teams, women will often get to the same results, and often improve the outcomes, using a different path than men. Yet in most meritocracies, sameness thinking is valued and rewarded over difference thinking.

“Anyone can advance if they demonstrate the desired behaviors and attitudes, which unwittingly favors men (or women that fit the male mold). As a result, fewer women as a percentage climb to the top where the male model is often firmly in place.

“Our client-organizations recognize that men and women bring different perspectives to the table, and need each other’s perspectives to sustain growth and success in this highly competitive, global information age.”