Pressure

That Men Don't & Why Men Should Care

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Untitled Slide

For orgs to be successful, they need both male and female perspectives when making decisions

Teams that are balanced outperform all male or all female teams by large margins.

“Any organization that is all female or all male has inherent weaknesses,”

IHHP, Women Under Pressure.

What stresses you?

Let's recap how the body reacts to stress

Some of the differences between women & men's brains

Hippocampus is the key area of brain for memory and decision-making.

In women, hippocampus is larger and when feeling pressure or anxiety, receives more blood flow.

This helps women

• be more effective at processing and coding emotional experiences into long term memories
• recall intricate, complex, physical details needed during decision making
• link experieces

Women have more fully developed prefrontal cortex thus providing better context of situation during problem solving

Women's Brains

• Have nearly 10X more white matter than men

This benefits women when under pressure as they

a. weigh more variables during decision making

b. consider more options

c. see more context

d. connect more brain areas

e. visualize wider array of solutions and options

Men have a tendency to develop tunnel vision

focus on short term or one goal

What are the benefits of tunnel vision to an organization?

a. Good for short-term goals such as quarterly finance targets

b. Not good for long-term goals or more complex & vague situations

At work, what pressures do you face?

Work Pressures

• Deadlines, goals
• Managing change
• Too much to do in too little time with too few resources
• Managing personal and professional lives

IHHP study of 6K women found that women face a significant 2nd level of pressure in workplace that has potential to diminish their influence and careers.

What do you think are some of those pressures that women face that men don't?

a. Working in mostly male teams or under mostly male leadership

a. Working in mostly male teams or under mostly male leadership

b. Dealing with more aggressive male behaviors

c. Need to be perfect and not make mistakes

d. Salary gap and lack of promotion

e. Work/life balance

IHHP found that women don’t want to be treated differently than men or seen as complaining

4 Stress Management Tips

1. Downsize importance of situation

2. Embrace imperfection

3. Focus on what you can control

4. Regulate Your Breathing

What's your takeaway from today?