[5 Tips] Become An Assertive Manager For Women
Contents
Assertiveness is an amazing trait to have as a manager.
But becoming assertive will be a different path for each person!
Women do tend to struggle with assertiveness more than men.
Remember it is a learned skill.
Practice and being taught the basics go a long way.
Let’s go over some common pitfalls!
1. Tone
Women tend to end their sentences and definitive statements with a lift in tone at the end.
This communicates doubt as it sounds like a question.
Speaking like this communicates self-doubt and deference.
The trick to fixing this one is to practice raising your tone on the penultimate syllable of a sentence.
Your voice will naturally drop for the final syllable of a sentence, and you won’t finish with a raised tone.
We always teach tone and its importance on our line manager courses which run online and in London!
2. Taking Your Turn
In a meeting or discussion you have to be confident.
Many women default to waiting for their turn to add their contribution rather than diving in.
If you have a point to make, then get the confidence to make it!
3. Body Language
There are a few habits that women often have which can signal a lack of confidence.
These include a weak handshake, smiling too much and trailing off sentences.
Good body language helps you maintain authority and respect, reaffirming your position.
Again these are down to a lack of confidence at heart and the exercises mentioned above will help!
4. Expressing Themselves
Women’s sentences can be filled with caveats and apologies.
This confuses the point they want to make!
A great example is when trying to say no to a request, women can dance around the topic too much.
They then get viewed as ‘fuzzy’ thinkers who have not learned to communicate clearly.
This devalues everything they say.
The simplest way to get on top of this is to use a conversational structure.
We recommend you use PRES! This stands for:
Point: Make your point clearly.
Reason: Explain the ‘why’ behind it.
Example: Give an example.
Summary: Summarise your point!
5. Electronic Communication
The advice above for expressing yourself clearly, also stands for emails as well.
Many people struggle to write effective emails, even if they communicate well in person.
The giveaways for this are too many questions, qualifiers and exclamation marks.
The trick is to use the PRES framework above again.
If you feel that your email is too harsh and want to soften it, add something like “Hope you had a good weekend?” but only at the end!
Conclusion
Asertiveness is a skill for both sexes.
Women just tend to fall into certain traps more often than males.
Hopefully, this article will help you to spot if you are falling into these traps.
Read these tips from 81 Assertiveness Experts for some more hands-on advice!
