4 Things That Men Can Learn from Boundless Women

4 Things That Men Can Learn from Boundless Women

Have you ever wondered what men can learn from boundless women? Gender should never be a factor in the traits of a successful leader. Ideally, leadership qualities are determined by a person’s personality traits and strengths, whether male or female. In reality, however, when women take on leadership roles, they are often underappreciated and undervalued in comparison to their male colleagues.

Quick disclaimer before we proceed, elocuted by Inkaar actress, Chitrangda Singh: “Feminism is not about male bashing or anti-male, but about gender equality and a sense of equal opportunity!”

Don’t Lean in When You’ve Got Nothing to Lean in About

One of the reasons the world lacks great leaders is that leaders are mostly selected through interviews where opinions are swayed by charisma and confidence. Those who comfortably promote themselves, accept credit for team achievements, and act assertively (or even aggressively) are seen as accomplished and powerful.

Because, according to organizational psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, “men are typically more deceived about their talents than women are”, they are not shy about blowing their own trumpets. Thus, men are perceived and chosen as formidable leaders. No wonder writer Nell Scovell collaborated with Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, in 2013 to write a book that advocates that women “press ahead, project confidence, “sit at the table and physically lean in” to be heard in the workplace.

The only problem with that is that there has never been any link between the competence of candidates and their ability to lean in. Now is the time to ditch stereotype honchos and applaud authenticity. Rather screen applicants for their expertise, experience, and essential leadership skills such as acumen, humility, compassion, integrity, and a growth mindset.

Know Your Own Limitations

If social media and gender stereotypes are to be believed, women are a bundle of insecurities. While it’s true that one of many gender differences is the self-critical nature of women, it is more about self-awareness than self-flagellation.

There is a two-fold upside to this:

1. Great leaders have a healthy dose of humility. Instead of pretending to have all the answers and be masters of everything, they:

  • Know their strengths and weaknesses
  • Harness the aptitudes of everyone in their network
  • Are approachable and receptive to new ideas
  • Welcome and applaud the contributions of others.

2. Being aware of their limitations directs the effort women put into bridging the gap between where they are and where they would like to be. Because women are generally less overconfident than men, female leaders tend to work harder at increasing their ability and performance.

Motivate Through Transformation

Across all industries, change is unavoidable. Transformational leadership can help employees not only accept change but embrace it by cultivating a culture of accountability and autonomy.

Transformational leaders inspire higher levels of engagement, performance, and productivity by:

  • Championing self-motivation and personal development
  • Demonstrating integrity and urging the same of others
  • Nurturing an ethical work environment based on unambiguous values, standards, and priorities.
  • Fostering a company culture where employees move from self-interest to working towards a shared goal
  • Promoting authenticity, collaboration, and frank communication
  • Offering coaching and mentoring but encouraging professional independence in employees.

Academics have long established that women are more likely to lead and motivate others by the transformation of their attitudes and beliefs. Men would be better leaders if they too influenced people with meaning and purpose.

Put Your People Ahead of Yourself

More than anything else, great leaders have integrity. Part of being a leader with integrity is putting your ego aside and valuing individuals and your team above tasks and results.

Women are less inclined to seek out leadership roles purely because they want the status of a corner office, impressive title, or larger paycheck.

“When we embrace the power of our feminine skills, we are redefining leadership where feminine is as strong and powerful as the masculine.” -Birute Regine, EdD, Founder of Iron Butterfly Power Circles

Would you like to put what men can learn from boundless women into practice at work? Our self-paced online leadership training program provides a step-by-step process to develop your leadership skills. Contact Corporate Class Inc. for more information.

Social Media Etiquette Corporate Training for Employees

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Image by Rosaura Ochoa via Flickr

To ensure employees manage online platforms responsibly and protect both personal and organizational online reputations, social media etiquette corporate training is required. Many organizations monitor social media usage, in fact some corporations ban employees from indulging in social media at work completely.

According to a new report from Gartner, “corporations are starting to embrace technologies used to monitor employee Internet use, with 60 percent expected to watch workers’ social media use for security breaches by 2015.”

Employees should be careful about “inappropriate” work-related posts on Facebook and other social media platforms, said Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.”There’s no doubt that the growth of social networking has created a paradigm shift for organizational security monitoring,” he said in an email. “Employees should be aware that their activities may be monitored by their employers, although the precise legal parameters for doing so will need to be developed.”

If you need your employees to use social media at work for brand management and marketing purposes it is important for them to be aware of proper social media etiquette to follow while using social media so that your reputation is protected at all times.

Employees on the other hand, need to be aware of professional social media etiquette so that they can not only maintain their organization’s professional image but also their own.

Here are some guidelines for social media etiquette as shared on the Huffington Post:

Social Media Etiquette Tips

  • Do not post negative, controversial, rude or potentially insulting commentary in online spaces.
  • Do not speak ill of others, or publicly deride competitors — good sportsmanship reigns.
  • Keep discussions about office politics off all social networks — even those that you consider private.
  • Do not use social networks to air dirty laundry.
  • Respond respectfully to commentary aimed at you — or do not respond at all.
  • Promote others more than you promote yourself to avoid self-aggrandizing.
  • Be supportive of others and treat them with the same level of professionalism that you’d ask for yourself.

Social Media Compliance Training Guidelines

1. Define the purpose

Before implementing training for employees on social media etiquette and best practices, establish clear goals. communicate rules on posting, online presence, and response, and ensure a social media policy covering confidentiality, copyright, ethics, and crisis management.

2. Risks and Benefits

Highlight the benefits of social media, such as increased visibility and lead generation, alongside risks like negative feedback and legal issues. Social media etiquette training for employees focuses on protecting social media accounts, verifying post sources, respecting privacy, and handling criticism.

3. Best Practices

Provide ongoing social media training on platform-specific skills, engagement techniques, and social media content creation. Use online courses, eLearning, webinars, or workshops to teach employees how to create engaging content with social media management software, use hashtags correctly, and interact with followers on social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

4. Feedback and guidance

Regularly monitor and support employees’ social media profiles and activities. Offer feedback and guidance, and give credit where credit is due, to create a culture of learning.

5. Keep up to date

Stay informed on the latest social media trends, regulations, and customer expectations. Continuously update training and policy to reflect changes in the digital landscape. Get feedback from employees, customers, and stakeholders to incorporate their input into training and policy updates.

6. Crisis management

Develop a crisis management plan to respond quickly and transparently to potential crises, such as negative reviews or security breaches. Employee social media training will teach employees to recognize, report, and handle crises professionally, and communicate effectively with stakeholders during challenging situations.

Social media etiquette for employees is more important now than ever, on a corporate level all the way down to an individual level. Social Media Etiquette corporate training is part of Corporate Class Inc.’s Techno-Communication Skills training course. Contact Diane Craig to learn more about it today!