May 10 2013
Study 2 – Focus: Women on Board
May 10th, 2013 – Vienna, Austria – AIMS International has launched the second issue of the international study about the most efficient competencies of Board Members, including one focus section with the results of the analysis of women on Board.
The results of the study regarding Board competencies lead to believe that women and men do not view any differently the most important and critical competencies. This very aspect matters the most, therefore it can be concluded that no gender bias should exist between them when assessing the top five competencies for efficient Board members.
The only competency showing a significant difference is “Communication”. Women and men are the complete opposite. Men tend to express themselves boldly, keeping sensitivity to others aside while women use more tact and diplomacy and adapt their message. Therefore, the gender gap in Boards is mostly created by the inability of both genders to communicate.
Today, the current code of communication in a Board setting is male-dominated, and the difficulty for women is to adopt a masculine code of communication to be perceived as efficient or at the very least to fit in. To have more women present on Boards, men will need to learn to appreciate and understand the female code of communication and stop assessing Board members solely through their own male code of communication. Then, men will start to appreciate the real business value that women have to offer, beyond the communication style.
