The Line Between Boss and Bossy: Navigating Perceptions of Women Leaders

Workshop C1

Cathleen E. Clerkin, PhD

Center for Creative Leadership

Objectives

• Identify the 6 key indicators of bossiness in the workplace and how bossiness impacts leadership

• Identify at least one strategy from the workshop to implement back in the workplace.

• Explain how perceptions about leaders are gendered and what leaders can do about it

Overview

• What is bossy and why should we care? - How it impacts career outcomes -What the word really means

• Tips for overcoming bossy perceptions and building up interpersonal skills

• Why women are called bossy and how the bossy label impacts women's leadership development

• Strategies for dealing with gender bias and the bossy label in the workplace

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10/25/2016

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Poll: Who has been called bossy?

Personal Experiences with the Word Bossy

• What happened?

• Why do you think that label was used?

• What was the impact? -How did it make you feel? -How did it change your behaviors?

The Ban Bossy Campaign

• Why Ban Bossy? - Encourage girls & women to lead

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- To help the pipeline problem (women are under represented in leadership}

- BKause: When ·~ ltttle boy auerts himself, he's called a •leader: Yet when 01lfttle alrt doi!S the Sime, she risks beln& branded •bossy." Words like bouy send a mess;ge: don't !'lise your hand or speak up. By middle school,&lrls are less Interested In leadlna than boys-a trend that continues Into adulthood. Together we can encourage girls to lead.

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10/25/2016

2

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The Ban Bossy Backlash

-Bossy is not gendered -Bossy is not a description of good leadership -Bossy is not relevant to the workplace -Bossy is not something that needs to be banned

-Bossy is not an insult -'Banning Bossy' restricts women (and men) rather

than giving women more options

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CCL Bossy Project

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• Polled women and men leaders about "bossy"

• Examined archival data (10,000 leaders over 20 years)

• Reviewed research on women's leadership

• Research Questions: -What is bossy? Who gets called bossy? What are the

consequences?

• Applications: -Should we encourage women to be bossy? Should we ban

bossy? What are the bias faced by women leaders? What can we do about the 'bossy bias'?

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CCL Research

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[] 92%

soy !hoy hove worked with

someone bossy

• 52% described o

woman bossy coworker

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Gender matters

.-' 33" of women have been called bossy, vs only 17" of men •

./ Bossy women co..workers are seen as less popular and less likely to succeed

.-' 2/3 described a bossy coworker of their awn cender

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How do you define bossy?

Being bossy is linked to career derailment

v'Bossy behaviors Is related to being seen as not promotable. ¥"'For both men 1nd women

./No matter who you iiSk

v"This relationship Is stronger fer women

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10/-25/20~6

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The gender gap seems to be increasing

overtime

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Year

BUt women AREN'T actually more bossy

than men

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01tad Report Rebngs Boss Rstongs

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l<ey Research Takeaways

v' The bossy lobe/Is gendered-the behaviors are not itWomen get labeled bossy more often than men fl' Men act just as bossy

B_pssy behaviors can derail anyone, but: ilThe punishment Is worse for women

The gender gap Is widening

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Discussion What surprises you about these results?

Why do you think bossiness Is related to not being promotable?

Why do you think women are called bossy more often/ penalized more strongly for being bossy?

Why is bossy related to not being promotable?

Career Dera ilment

• Interpersonal skills = the strongest predictor of derailment

• Higher positions = less about task skills, more about people skills

- CEOs: Hired for potential, fired for failure to connect.

10/29/201&

How to increase interpersonal skills and decrease bossiness

Dictating orders & Controlling ......

Build High Quality Connections

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Learn to let go

• Extend your metric of success -Not about right now, but the future - Not you, but your people

• Adapt a growth mindset -Find something to learn (about yourself, others, business)

Take Others' Perspectives

Empathy Map Exercise

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• Think of a person you have had trouble with at work

• Fill out the empathy map (to the best of your ability)

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Discussion & Debrief

• Discuss at tables - What did you learn/discover?

• How much do we actually know?

• How often do we consider others contexts?

10/25/2016•

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Why Are Women Called Bossy? (and why should we care)

The paradox of women leaders

• Leaders = masculine traits

• Women= feminine traits

• Women leaders=?

• Bossy= artifact of outdated leadership prototypes

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Calling women bossy hinders leadership development

• It is vague, not constructive

• It implies fixed traits rather than a developmental, growth mindset

• It assumes an identity-that is often unwanted

• It assumes deliberate intention (rather than circumstance)

• It assumes an inability to lead

...., Strategies for dealing with gender bias and the bossy label in the workplace

Strategy 1: Give & get quality feedback

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Research shows women get less feedback, and their feedback Is more likely

to be critical and personal.

10/l5/20Hi

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