Fun & Famous
5 THINGS MALE MANAGERS CAN LEARN FROM US
First and foremost, let it be known that I love men. In private and in business. They’re nice and easy, don’t suffer from monthly visitors, consistency in taste and what you see is usually what you get. But there is still a reason John de Mol (you know, the guy who gave us The Voice) prefers working with women. Us women aren’t so bad on the work floor. In fact, there are a couple of things men can still learn from us.
1. Award someone else with the honors
I know a lot of men who are particularly generous when it comes to distributing credits, but I’ve been present at plenty of meetings where certain men have a tendency to take credit for things other people worked on too. There are probably plenty of exceptions that confirm this rule, but research has shown that women are far more modest and are less likely to give themselves a compliment. A shame in most cases, but as an employer it makes us more sympathetic. Giving credit where credit is due and sharing is caring is our motto.
2. Share everything
I had a male manager who ‘suddenly’ told me that he hadn’t been living with his family for the past month. I hadn’t noticed. Impossible for a woman. We share everything. Sometimes a bit too much (I really don’t have to know when everyone’s time of the month is or when they had a rowdy night under the covers) but that makes us closer. I always try to park the stories about my kids outside the office, but as soon as someone has a birthday to celebrate, I’ll share it. It connects people, and if everyone starts doing this, we’ll have a better understanding of why people can sometimes act more agitated than others.
”Okay, maybe both sexes can learn from one another here.”
3. Don’t get mad
Men have such a wonderful way of sometimes losing their temper. A raised voice, a curse word here and there and a fist on the table. I have yet to meet a woman who would do this. An advantage for men is that when they do this, they start off with a clean slate again. Whereas women don’t get mad quickly and bottle everything up and end up getting mad at the person who forgot to fill up the printer with paper. Okay, maybe both sexes can learn from one another here.
4. How are we going to solve it
I have a feeling, but correct me if I’m wrong, that men always want to know who to blame and women have more of a how-are-we-going-to-solve-it mentality. That way we’ll figure out a way to avoid it in the future.
5. Attention
On your first day of work you find a handwritten note welcoming you to the company. I have a colleague who’s father passes away not so long ago and she let me know there was a certain kind of candy he always enjoyed. If any of us comes across that specific candy (which is hard to find because they hardly sell it anywhere), we buy it. This can bring people closer together and uplift their spirits and feel more at home and content at work. And being happier leads to better results.
