Sector News

Sorry, but men use passive language as much as women

October 12, 2018
Borderless Leadership

Words and phrases that undermine your message can kill your career. To combat this, there’s even a Chrome extension that highlights the use of words like “sorry” and phrases like “does this make sense” in an effort to encourage more confident communication–particularly in women’s messages.

But a new study from Hive, a collaboration platform, indicates that men are just as likely to use those words and phrases. The State of Workplace Gender report, which surveyed 3,000 men and women across different workspaces, found that there are almost no differences in the use of “I think,” “please,” and happy face emojis. However, men are more likely (0.64%) than women (0.07%) to say they’re sorry in a message. And when women do say sorry, they are more likely to say it to each other.

Both women and men are more likely to send direct messages to their own gender. The survey also found that men assign 20% more tasks to men, and women assign 20% more tasks to women, and respondents indicated that they’re also slightly more likely to complete work assigned to them by someone of the same gender.

By: Lycia Dishman

Source: Fast Company

comments closed

Related News

June 3, 2023

The Chief Transformation Officer: your navigator for the uncharted waters ahead

Borderless Leadership

Large-scale change efforts achieve 24% more of their planned value when a dedicated CTO oversees them, Bain data shows. There are five critical roles a CTO must play, often simultaneously: strategic architect, integrator, operator, coach, and controller. Many CTOs are in the position for the first time and often don’t have a predecessor to lean on, making external coaching or peer mentoring highly valuable.

May 27, 2023

More than half of employers want to embrace AI at work but only one fifth are currently doing so, study finds

Borderless Leadership

The research by Hays, which surveyed 8,853 professionals and employers, found that most were yet to use the technology, with less than one in five workers (15 per cent) using AI in their current role, and just over a fifth (21 per cent) of organisations. The study also found that currently only 27 per cent of organisations are upskilling staff to prepare for the use of AI.

May 21, 2023

How to be more creative, according to psychology

Borderless Leadership

We often view creativity as something we have to let ourselves express naturally rather than something that can be forced. But one study found that receiving an instruction to be creative can, perhaps counter to this assumption, actually boost our creativity.

How can we help you?

We're easy to reach