Women leaders must manage conflicting stereotypical role expectations. Their gender role expectations are centred on what psychologists call communal attributes, such as kindness, empathy and nurturing. At the same time, their leadership role expectations involve agency attributes, such as being aggressive and self-confident. These simultaneous, contradictory expectations often trap women leaders in no-win situations. On […]
Read More… from How Women Leaders Overcome Conflicting Expectations
Personality traits can impact how well people learn. For the Big Five personality traits, for example, previous research has found that Conscientiousness, Extraversion and Openness (being open to new ideas and experiences) will enhance an individual’s learning or training experience, while Neuroticism hampers learning. The fifth personality type, Agreeableness, has in previous research shown no […]
Read More… from Which Individuals Benefit Most From Coaching
Although mentoring is often cited as one of the paths for women to break down the barriers that hamper promotion opportunities and career success, what exactly can women learn through mentoring relationships and how does this make a difference for them in the workplace? This question is at the heart of a qualitative study on […]
Read More… from Mentoring Programs for Women to Overcome Workplace Challenges
Scratch the surface of any leader’s great career and you will find the influence of one or more mentors who fully invested themselves in the leader’s development and advancement. The value of mentoring is such that access to qualified mentors is seen as one of the keys to inclusion and diversity. Yet, building a successful […]
Read More… from Building and Maintaining Mentoring Relationships
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize how emotions can affect your behaviour and thoughts, and the behaviour and thoughts of others, and given this awareness, helps you regulate your emotions. Regulating your emotions is especially important in what psychologists label ‘emotional labour’ — work where employees and professionals have to be able to display […]
Read More… from The Emotional Challenge of Customer Service
The word ‘politics’ has such a negative connotation that being ‘skilled’ at office politics may imply deceit, hypocrisy, and other sundry attributes that one doesn’t advertise on a resume. In their white paper, ‘Your Vlerick Guidebook for Staying Ahead of the (Political) Game,’ Vlerick business school professor Katleen de Stobbeleir and her collaborator Maaike van […]
Read More… from How to Stay Ahead in the Game of Office Politics
Women are still a minority in many male-dominated professions, such as engineering and technology, as well as being a minority in leadership positions in most industries. Past studies have shown that women in these industries have a difficult time exerting the same influence in their organizations. One reason often cited is that women don’t appear […]
Read More… from Why Self-Confident Women Have Less Influence than Self-Confident Men
Psychological tools are proving to be very effective in helping people in the workplace gain the right frame of mind in challenging situations. Imagine that you are about to enter a room where you will make a presentation in front of a powerful client. Appearing diffident or unsure would be the worst impression you could […]
Read More… from How ‘Power Recall’ Is an Effective Technique When Easy
With social inequality in the U.S. only getting worse and with intergenerational mobility lower than in many other advanced economies, it is clear that individuals in the higher socioeconomic levels of American society have a distinct advantage over lower class individuals in economic trajectories — that is, they are given the most lucrative jobs and […]
Read More… from High Social Class Helps Men Get Jobs, But Not Women
INSEAD’s new global survey of Gen X, Gen Y and Gen Z respondents, focusing on the workplace, technology and leadership, reveals the similarities and differences among today’s young professionals. A collaboration between INSEAD Emerging Markets Institute, Universum and the HEAD foundation, the survey received responses from more than 18,000 professionals and students in 16 countries, […]
Read More… from Three Generations of Young Professionals Reshape the Workplace