„‚ CONDITIONS THAT HINDER EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

To enhance her own effectiveness, the woman trainer needs to be especially aware
of certain issues. In design sessions for laboratory experiences and consultations, she
needs to know where her support base is in the group; she needs to know the issues on
which she will negotiate and those on which she will not. She needs to have a good
sense of timing so that she intervenes at moments when her input can be best received.
She needs to be equally unconcerned with being ignored and with being affirmed so that
she can monitor the group climate. She needs to claim ownership for a job well done but
also to acknowledge errors in judgment. She needs to deal with instances in which
sexual attraction biases her responses to other trainers and group members.
Men, also, as they search for new, more collaborative, less competitive behavior
and as they become committed more to openness than to coolness, are likely to be
awkward. Men need to be encouraged to build support systems or begin consciousnessraising
groups in which they can explore these new behaviors. In training settings
particularly, we encourage men to be aware of whether they are operating out of a need
for power and control or a need to get the job done, ignoring other significant needs for
approval, closeness, or spontaneity.
POWER
A paramount issue for women in training is the exercise of power and the acceptance of
the potential conflict that may result. This issue is manifest in both the planning and the
execution of training programs. Women tend to be reticent with colleagues concerning
confrontation or competition in design sessions, even when it is in the best interests of
the client. The same is true when women consultants negotiate a contract with a client
system. They often fail to conceptualize the issues and tend to see an impediment in
terms of a power struggle even though such dynamics are ordinary and frequently useful
components in every organization.
The woman trainer/consultant needs to be clear in her own mind about what is
negotiable in the design and what is not, if she is to act in the best professional interests
of her client and herself. Training designs, of course, may need to be modified after the
program begins; or alternatives may need to be presented from which the participants
can choose. But women particularly, because of their past socialization and the ongoing
reward system in the United States culture, are especially vulnerable to abandoning a
position of strength in order to be charming and conciliatory instead of forceful and
persuasive.
Although ways of dealing with the authority issue vary tremendously among both
male and female trainers, women tend to be reluctant to take charge when that is
appropriate; and they overuse the collaborative/reactive mode even when it is not
appropriate. As women become more comfortable in leadership roles, they will
undoubtedly be able to make judgments based on a correct reading of the situation at
hand.
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The Pfeiffer Library Volume 6, 2nd Edition. Copyright © 1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer