I have just read a passage that is deeply troubling. I have just read Rebecca Heist's "Instinct – Rewire the Brain". According to Rebecca, when it comes to gender, we are still wrestling with the importance of appearance for women, and status for men as indicators of worth.
Gender stereotypes
The aggregated data from millions of people across the world conducting Google searches demonstrate that the likely words to follow "is my son . . ." are "genius" or "gifted." In contrast, the similar search "is my daughter . . ." was most commonly finished with the words "ugly" or "overweight."
I had no idea that these trends were set in common stereotypes that shape the attitudes and behaviour that cause friction, miscommunication and rigid thinking in organisations. We have a long way to go in creating the right culture of mutual respect.
Tip of the Iceberg
Let's open this up to look at a more comprehensive view of organisational culture.
It makes me wonder how well organisations read the typical stereotypes that drive decision making. A good 90% of decisions at many levels in organisations, are operated by unconscious bias, whether that be gender, race, religion, age or any other form of discrimination.
The only way to redeem the situation is to undertake a cultural analysis of the business, examine the dominant values (conscious or unconscious), and structure policy and practice around that.
This means transforming thinking and moving away from a Fixed to a Growth mindset culture.
Fixed Mindset Culture
The dominant culture is command and control, mechanistic, and core values focused on bureaucratic relationships. Speed of change is slow and ponderous, and change happens because of the people you know and where they fit in the order of things, rather than rationality and what they know and the experience they have.
Views on change and innovation are risk-averse, and career dynamics focus on progression through a functional hierarchy. Management style is based on authority, rather than knowledge and the ability to work across boundaries.
The Growth Mindset Culture
The Growth mindset is organic, expansive, consultative and participative. It is results-driven and driven through teamwork. Dominant values focus on working across silos rather than in them. Initiative and enterprise are rewarded above status. Speed to drive implementation of change is valued, as is taking thoughtful risks, and the management style is long-term transformational rather than the short-term transactional style.
In which would you like to work or do you work?
Email Philip
Source: Heiss, Rebecca. Instinct: Rewire Your Brain with Science-Backed Solutions to Increase Productivity and Achieve Success (p. 37)
Gender stereotypes
The aggregated data from millions of people across the world conducting Google searches demonstrate that the likely words to follow "is my son . . ." are "genius" or "gifted." In contrast, the similar search "is my daughter . . ." was most commonly finished with the words "ugly" or "overweight."
I had no idea that these trends were set in common stereotypes that shape the attitudes and behaviour that cause friction, miscommunication and rigid thinking in organisations. We have a long way to go in creating the right culture of mutual respect.
Tip of the Iceberg
Let's open this up to look at a more comprehensive view of organisational culture.
It makes me wonder how well organisations read the typical stereotypes that drive decision making. A good 90% of decisions at many levels in organisations, are operated by unconscious bias, whether that be gender, race, religion, age or any other form of discrimination.
The only way to redeem the situation is to undertake a cultural analysis of the business, examine the dominant values (conscious or unconscious), and structure policy and practice around that.
This means transforming thinking and moving away from a Fixed to a Growth mindset culture.
Fixed Mindset Culture
The dominant culture is command and control, mechanistic, and core values focused on bureaucratic relationships. Speed of change is slow and ponderous, and change happens because of the people you know and where they fit in the order of things, rather than rationality and what they know and the experience they have.
Views on change and innovation are risk-averse, and career dynamics focus on progression through a functional hierarchy. Management style is based on authority, rather than knowledge and the ability to work across boundaries.
The Growth Mindset Culture
The Growth mindset is organic, expansive, consultative and participative. It is results-driven and driven through teamwork. Dominant values focus on working across silos rather than in them. Initiative and enterprise are rewarded above status. Speed to drive implementation of change is valued, as is taking thoughtful risks, and the management style is long-term transformational rather than the short-term transactional style.
In which would you like to work or do you work?
Email Philip
Source: Heiss, Rebecca. Instinct: Rewire Your Brain with Science-Backed Solutions to Increase Productivity and Achieve Success (p. 37)
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