Gender Intelligence Show

On a day to mark the progress of women's rights around the globe, Barbara and Paul discuss 'mining the gold,' to recognize and appreciate the differences and strengths that women bring to the workplace, and in leadership roles.

The theme of this year's International Women's Day is "Choose to Challenge." It's a theme Barbara takes some issue with because it raises the age-old concept of Gender Equality, the 'battle' for being treated the same. But we're not the same, according to Barbara, who coined the phrase "Great Minds Think Unalike." She says we need to celebrate our differences and the unique skills and perspectives that both women and men bring to the table.

As part of International Women's Day, Barbara conducted a series of interviews with senior corporate leaders, to get a sense from them how Gender Intelligence is helping to shape their organizations in 2021. This show features some of the content from Barbara's conversation with Scott Anderson, the President and CEO of Zion's Bank. Anderson is a huge proponent of Gender Intelligence and says the process has empowered him and made him a better leader, partner, and community member.

Watch the full interview with Zion's Bank President and CEO Scott Anderson here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6LzJst77QA

Men Speaking for Women?

Paul expressed some surprise that Barbara chose to interview not just women leaders, but also men on International Women's Day. Barbara explains that we often learn the most by 'walking in each other's shoes,' because it forces us to really try and understand each other.

How Have We Missed the Mark?

Despite a worldwide effort, we're still not valuing women fully, according to Barbara. She describes the story of a woman executive who describes the 'silos' she sees, even within organizations, that prevent women networks from truly being embraced. Barbara's concerned that the pandemic has created further isolation.

Contact the Gender Intelligence Group for more information: [email protected] or 1-877-922-2462 ext. 120

How do you measure training effectiveness when it comes to Gender Intelligence? We've got a tool for that!

Our Online Gender Diversity Diagnostic tool allows individuals, teams, and organization to quantify their Gender Intelligence scores, and track progress over time. The tool offers organizations quantifiable data, allowing them to 'see' the issues, identify misalignments and discontinuities between intention and behavior, and develop solutions that work. It's also 100% customizable for organizations.

The Benefits of Diagnostic:

• Tangible, measurable assessment results and ease in tracking individual or team progress
• Improved retention resulting in savings on hiring/training
• Simplifies the process of identifying solutions for implementation
• Moves it beyond 'quotas' and into breakthrough results
• Benchmark yourself to other companies

What Does the Diagnostic Tool Measure?

• Commitment
• Dignity and Respect
• Openness
• Opportunity
• Work-Life Flexibility
• Satisfaction and Commitment
• Diversity and Inclusiveness
• Gender and Ethnic Diversity in the organization

How to get started to use the Gender Intelligence Assessment Tool:

[email protected]

or 1-877-922-2462 ext. 120

Microlearning is gaining traction in the corporate training world. More and more educators and instructional designers are realizing the benefits of bite-sized learning, compared to workshops or longer form e-learning.

The Gender Intelligence Group has launched its "Learning Nudges" program, delivering 3- to-5-minute micro training modules on a weekly basis, over a 6-month period. The focus is on inclusion, with specific Learning Nudges relating to these topics:

• Gender
• Racial and Cultural
• Religion
• Disability

Each nudge is made up of a short scene with relatable animated characters, followed by a short video with insight and advice from Gender and Inclusion expert Barbara Annis.

2:18 – Audio example of a Learning Nudge

4:25 – Audio example of the commentary segment for a Learning Nudge

Barbara explains to Paul the importance of expanding the learning program to cover every aspect of diversity. The Learning Nudges are gleaned from thorough research and through experiences shared by clients.

Barbara says she's discovered through behavioral economics the importance of the repetitive nature of ongoing Learning Nudges, to create building blocks of learning. It's learning that can happen anywhere, anytime on mobile devices. Gender Intelligence Group started a pilot program to test Learning Nudges with 1,000 employees at Zions Bank. The organization found the 'real-time' learning to be extremely valuable.

In 2020, U.S. companies spent more than $8 billion on mandatory harassment training. Paul and Barbara discuss how that leads to battle fatigue, and how Learning Nudges shift the paradigm in numerous ways. Barbara's goal is to introduce Learning Nudges into the educational system, in partnership with Pearson Education.

The current Learning Nudges program delivers microlearning moments weekly, over 6 months. At the end, learners earn a certification and badge as an "Inclusion Ambassador."

Website: http://www.learningnudges.com

Learning Nudges Overview Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S903AM_liVE

It's a disruptive time for everyone. Organizations are concerned about the wellbeing and productivity of employees, and individuals are facing serious challenges too. Barbara and Paul reflect on the issues facing many of us, and focus on 6 important areas where using Gender Intelligence will make a big difference. They are:

1. Distraction - The ongoing disruption and work/lifestyle changes. Women tend to worry more, especially those on the front-line including caregivers, nurses, etc.
2. Communication – Sometimes we're not getting across to each other in a way that is honoring for both women and men.
3. Stress – It's gone through the roof. Men and women de-stress differently. Women do it through connection. Men tend to do it by tuning out.
4. A need to be heard.
5. Juggling work/life balance.
6. Conflicts. How to resolve them in a win/win way. Barbara and Paul also discuss the tools for eliminating challenges. It's important to spend some time understanding the science of brain differences (review some of the concepts in Season 1, Episode 3)

7 tools to eliminate challenges

1. Let's start appreciating each other, standing in each other shoes
2. Take care of yourself, create space for you and others
3. Press the pause button if you are triggered, apply SARA Shock/Anger/Rejection/Acceptance
4. Respond with compassion
5. Use the chunking method set aside time to be 100% present in activities
6. Keep your work in one space, will help in work/life harmony piece
7. Listen deeply to other perspectives and points of view

The gender intelligence conversation gets a bit more personal as Barbara Annis, author of Results At The Top, examines why it matters "everywhere else," including the home, the hospital, and in difficult conversations.

In the final episode of the Gender Intelligence mini-series, Baraba Annis talks about how gender intelligence can be the difference between life and death, as in the case of heart attacks, but also how companies have implemented the gender intelligence research to completely transform their businesses and in some cases double or triple their yearly revenue.

• Research on the gender differences of our bodies didn't exist before 1990. At that time the US Health department couldn't figure out why more women than men were dying of heart attacks, and when they looked into the cause they found that 72% of women had entirely different symptoms when they had heart attacks.
• They didn't know what they didn't know, because before 1990 the US Health department only tested men and male animals.
• Once they started looking they found a slew of gender differences. 80% of autoimmune diseases occur in women, Alzheimer's is more predominant in women, so is dementia.
• If you want to take care of your health, particularly if you're a woman, ask your doctor if they have any research on gender differences.
• Knowing these differences and being willing to push your doctor to look into the research can be a life or death situation. There are differences in the genders in how they handle difficult conversations as well. Women tend to take things personally, where they internalize conflicts, whereas men tend to externalize things. This can cause problems between men and women and create power struggles if we don't understand where each gender is coming from. There is equal learning for both men and women in this regard. Women tend to seek understanding, men tend to seek space and resolution, and there are a few simple things that you can do to make a conversation work between the genders. Honoring each other's differences and avoiding the blame game is the key.
• Dr. Hubble Hendricks says that we go through three phases of committed relationships. The first is the romantic phase where everything is great. The second is the power struggle phase where gender differences occur. Only 7% of us enter the third spontaneous acceleration phase where people can be themselves and loved for who they are.
• With an understanding of gender intelligence and the science around how the genders interact, more people can reach the third phase of a committed relationship.
• Due to the rise of the #metoo movement, many men reported that they became uncomfortable mentoring or networking with women. Dr. Annis has created a program that has empowered men to raise their standards but also to engage other men.
• Gender intelligence is about men and women working and winning together. When we understand the how of it, it becomes really empowering.
• Home relationships are becoming much more important in the age of Covid-19. The research showed that the same themes came up in most situations where the genders are working at home.
• Stress has increased considerably across the board, especially for women. The challenges of communication have increased as well.
• Men and women deal with conflict differently, with women tending to internalize conflict and men externalizing it. As stress levels have increased, so have the incidences of conflict.
• Men and women are different, and by celebrating and honoring those differences we can do more together.
• When you feel valued and heard, your happiness goes up. The more you understand the other gender and how they communicate and operate, the happier and more productive your relationship.
• Several companies have implemented the research of gender intelligence and transformed their businesses in as little as 12 months. Understanding the differences in the genders in your personal life can allow you to become closer to people important to you. Learn and engage in the research and it will have a lasting positive impact on your life.
• Imagine if we created a world that was gender intelligent, where we valued boys and men and valued girls and women for who they were. It starts with you.

In this continued conversation on Gender Intelligence, Barbara Annis, author of Same Words Different Langauge, and CEO of Gender Intelligence Group (GIG) examines the role of gender intelligence in the workplace. Topics include blindspots in the workplace and the need for gender intelligence to be a "business imperative."

Find out why it's absolutely imperative that businesses understand gender intelligence if they want to create effective teams and produce extraordinary results. Learn how gender intelligence impacts the workplace as well as what blindspots we have about the opposite gender that are holding us back and how to overcome them.

• There is an important difference between gender equality and gender intelligence. In the course of 30 years of research and results from implementation, we are seeing major impacts on many different areas of business.
• An inclusive culture in a business is a major asset. When you have men and women at the table practicing gender intelligence it increases innovation and improves decision making.
• There is $8 billion a year spent in corporate America on diversity training, and it has no correlation to any impact whatsoever. It actually creates education apathy, whereas by applying gender intelligence training many companies have reported massive declines in incidences of harassment.
• The neuroscience of gender intelligence has been around since 1990 but it's still surprising how many people do not understand or deny the evidence of gender differences.
• Understanding the reality of gender differences and the neuroscience involved allows us to appreciate our differences instead of ignoring or tolerating them.
• Just recruiting additional women into a work culture of men is futile. Women value different things and creating a gender intelligent culture is how a business can reduce turnover.
• In the process of studying the sustainable impact of gender intelligence, Barbara found that companies that implemented gender intelligence made more progress in a handful of years than they did in a decade and a half with diversity and inclusivity training.
• Bringing women into a sales call can open up a whole new avenue of understanding. Women tend to notice things that men don't focus on which can lead to insights into what a customer wants and feels that would be otherwise missed.
• Women weigh options and ruminate more than men, which is often at odds with the way men think and take action quickly. Finding a balance between the two approaches leads to better results.
• Girls develop their prefrontal cortex earlier than boys, which is why they tend to be more risk-wise than boys the same age.
• Neuroscience has proven that men and women think differently. It becomes a business imperative to see both perspectives and get better results, the key is in avoiding the blind spots that prevent us from taking the next step.
• Women have a blindspot in the belief that men don't care. Men do care and want women to succeed, the challenge is in the comfort level within the #metoo era. A powerful conversation occurs when men say they do care, but they don't know what the next step is or how to express that.
• For men, the blind spot is the belief that women aren't ambitious, which couldn't be further from the truth, but you can hamper women's ambition if the culture is lacking. If you don't provide a means for the ambition to be fulfilled inside of your own organization, it's going to be fulfilled elsewhere.
• Another big assumption on men's part is that women are fragile. The truth is that women negotiate differently, they tend to negotiate poorly for themselves but more effectively for other people. This is often interpreted by men as a weakness or fragility of women in the workplace.
• Gender intelligence applies beyond the workplace, parents need to realize the sons and daughters require a different approach to parenting. One size does not fit all. It's the same with health differences and conflict in relationships, gender differences require a better understanding of gender intelligence in order to thrive.
• Be curious, learn something of the other gender and then ask. Make no assumptions and be curious about new learning.

Barbara Annis, author of Results At The Top, Work With Me, and Same Words, Different Language discusses the origin of the concept of Gender Intelligence, the neuroscience behind it, and where she hopes to go with the show.

Gender intelligence is transforming the way we think about communication, relationships, and conflict between the genders by revealing the differences that make each gender unique. Learn how Barbara Annis coined the term of gender intelligence decades ago and has since made it her mission to take the idea of gender intelligence mainstream.

• The idea of gender intelligence came from Barbara's struggle with the concept of gender equality. People tend to think gender equality means treating the genders the same and don't take the differences between the genders into account. When you stand for gender intelligence, you are actually looking at the differences between men and women and how to appreciate them as competitive advantages.
• Women tend to solve problems in a way that's more contextual with a focus on seeking to understand the issue. For men, they are more focused on getting the facts and taking action. When men and women work together to solve problems, we get the best of both approaches.
• The idea of gender intelligence is finding its way into more industries including engineering, mining, and space exploration.
• In neuroscience, we assume that men and women are mostly the same, but recent developments in the 1990s led us to looking more at the differences between male and female brains. The biggest blindspot in neuroscience has been the fact that the whole body of knowledge was based on testing the male brain exclusively up until that point.
• Autoimmune diseases and Covid-19 are examples of how men and women are affected differently by the same disease.
• Great minds think unalike. As companies learn to understand gender intelligence and appreciate the diversity of thought, they are producing better results.
• Brain scans of a resting male brain compared to a resting female brain reveal one of the fundamental differences between men and women. A woman's resting brain state is still full of neural activity, and understanding this can help both genders understand what the other needs to destress and relax.
• The challenge in relationships between the genders is when we begin resisting the differences. A common myth that women share is that men don't listen, when they in fact listen differently. Honoring the differences instead of resisting them is vital.
• Barbara started the podcast to make the knowledge of gender intelligence more accessible to people, and one of the big goals of the show is to test assumptions. Gender intelligence isn't about making broad stereotypes and more about having the ability to adapt to the way people around you think and communicate. Barbara began her career as the first woman in sales at Sony and found herself taking on the predominant male paradigm and behaviour. She realized that today we don't need to do that anymore and that the science of gender intelligence is revealing a better, more effective way.
• Future episodes of the podcast will be focused on gender differences and the challenges that each gender faces in the workplace, as well as tools and strategies to navigate those challenges. We'll also explore the differences in health between the genders and what we need to do to understand what men and women need to stay healthy.
• Cross-gender communication and relationships is complex for all people and all generations. Gender intelligence is ultimately about providing understanding. When we understand each other, we improve our morale and our engagement, but also our effectiveness with one another.