How to Fix the Broken Rung? Feedback Matters
Myth #7: Gender affects professional feedback
It’s no secret that feedback is fundamental for growth and development in any area, but especially the workplace. Feedback can guide individuals toward professional advancement, offer clarity on areas for improvement, and boost confidence.
When it comes to being a woman in the workforce, the nature of feedback received may be inadvertently stifling their career advancement rather than fostering it.
At Ceresa, we are a professional development company who loves research. What we do is based on research and data and our latest analysis addressed this issue. We uncovered some startling insights about the type of feedback women receive and its implications for their careers.
Welcome to our research surrounding Myth #7, “Men and women get substantially different feedback”. Sadly this is not a myth, but confirmed as true.
Feedback for Women Focuses on Personality and Confidence, Not Advancement
One of the key findings from Ceresa’s research is that the feedback women receive often centers on their personality, communication style, and perceived character flaws. This focus on personal attributes contrasts sharply with the feedback men receive, which is more likely to be centered on career advancement and leadership skills.
Other research has found that women are also given feedback differently than men, such as the tone used. Our research looks at the focus of the feedback. The combination of not just tone but focus all lead to an inequity in workplace feedback for women, potentially holding them back from career advancement.
Insight: The Disparity in Focus Areas of Feedback
We found a significant difference in the focus areas identified in feedback given to men versus women. Men receive much more feedback related to career advancement, while women receive more feedback on confidence and personal attributes. This trend reinforces women’s own lack of focus on career advancement and perpetuates a cycle where women are more concerned with performing well and building confidence rather than strategically navigating their career paths. For more information on that insight, check out our previous blog post.
Evidence: The Quantitative and Qualitative Disparity
Ceresa’s data provides a detailed look into this disparity:
Leadership Competencies: On average, men and women receive similar quantitative scores on leadership competencies. Interestingly, women tend to perform slightly better in areas such as communication, culture, and organization, while men score higher in coaching skills and strategic thinking.
Focus of Feedback: The stark difference lies in the focus areas of feedback. Men are more likely to receive feedback on career advancement (18% of feedback for men vs. 11% for women) and leadership skills (30% for men vs. 27% for women). Conversely, women are more likely to receive feedback focused on confidence (16% for women vs. 9% for men).
Wellness and Meaning: Women also receive more feedback related to wellness and finding meaning in their work, which aligns with their goals of focusing on personal well-being. This is reflective of the broader emphasis women place on work-life balance and mental health.
These disparities in feedback are not just numbers—they have real implications for how women perceive their careers and their place in leadership roles.
Women Lack the Essential Guidance for Career Progression They Need
All this suggests that the feedback women receive is not adequately preparing them for career advancement. The emphasis on confidence and personality traits, while important, does not equip women with the strategic insights they need to navigate their careers and climb the corporate ladder.
This feedback gap is one of the contributing factors to the well-documented "broken rung" in the workforce. If you’re not familiar with the broken rung, this is the point at which women’s career advancement begins to lag behind that of their male counterparts. This is often, when climbing the corporate ladder, the step from entry-level to a management position.
What the research highlights is the critical need for women, and the people supporting and guiding them, to focus more on career advancement strategies rather than solely on confidence building. The lack of feedback on career advancement, combined with women’s own tendency to prioritize performance and well-being over strategic career management, creates a substantial barrier to leadership roles.
Again, the vicious cycle, this focus can cause women to have lower levels of aspiration for senior leadership positions and lower confidence in achieving these roles. There is significant work to be done in helping women see themselves in leadership positions, tying that to their broader sense of purpose, and helping them be intentional about building their careers—not just excelling in their current roles.
An article in Fortune magazine illustrates this data from their own research:
“New analysis of more than 23,000 performance reviews across 250 U.S. workplaces shows that women at the top of their game are still put down on paper as abrasive and opinionated—and it doesn’t matter if their manager is male or female. The study found that women have to sit through reviews that are harsher and less constructive than their male peers—and more often than not, their feedback is based on poor stereotypes of their personality, not their work.
For example, nearly a third of women were described as opinionated in their performance review—just 4% of men were told the same.
“Language like abrasive, difficult, friendly, and helpful showed up in the majority of women’s reviews, but in very few of the men’s,” the report notes.”
The article goes on to share more focus areas of performance reviews and words used for women versus men. Top performing men are called brilliant while the same women are called successful but unlikeable. Orianna Rosa Royle, the author, credits womens confidence and career drive tanking due to internalizing these negative stereotype comments.
From Performance to Purpose
One of the ways Ceresa addresses this issue in professional development is by helping participants focus on a broader life vision statement. This approach encourages women to see their careers as part of a larger purpose and mission in their lives. By framing career advancement within the context of personal fulfillment and broader life goals, women can begin to take a more strategic approach to their professional development.
Companies, leaders, and managers can play an important role in this process by helping individuals build a career that feels meaningful and connected to a larger purpose. This involves providing feedback that goes beyond performance and personal attributes and offering guidance on how to navigate career paths, seek out leadership opportunities, and advocate for advancement.
Strategies for Supporting Women’s Career Advancement
We suggest a shift in what feedback is provided to women and how career advancement is supported in the workplace. Here are several strategies that can help bridge the gap between performance and promotion for women:
1. Reframe Feedback Conversations
Managers and leaders should reframe feedback conversations to include more discussions around career advancement and leadership opportunities. Instead of focusing solely on confidence or communication styles, feedback should also provide actionable insights on how women can strategically navigate their careers, seek out leadership roles, and build their professional networks.
2. Encourage Career Visioning
Helping women develop a clear career vision is key for their advancement. This involves encouraging them to think about their long-term career goals and how those goals align with their broader sense of purpose and personal fulfillment. By tying career advancement to a larger mission, women can take a more proactive approach to their professional development.
3. Provide Access to Mentorship and Sponsorship
Mentorship and sponsorship are important components of career advancement, yet women often have less access to these resources compared to men. Organizations should prioritize creating mentorship and sponsorship opportunities for women, particularly in senior leadership roles. Mentors can provide guidance on career navigation, while sponsors can advocate for women’s advancement within the company. Curious about what mentorship looks like, connect with us, we’d love to chat about how Ceresa mentoring programs work and assist in professional development.
4. Create Supportive Networks
Building a strong support network is also helpful for women’s career advancement. This includes not only mentors and sponsors but also peers and allies who can offer encouragement and support. Companies should foster environments where women feel empowered to network, seek out mentorship, and advocate for their own advancement.
5. Address Bias in Feedback
There is significant evidence to suggest that feedback is often influenced by unconscious bias, which is what reinforces women receiving feedback that focuses more on personality and confidence rather than career advancement. Organizations need to be aware of these biases and take steps to ensure that feedback is equitable and constructive for all employees, regardless of gender.
Conclusion: Give Feedback that Promotes Women’s Career Growth
The feedback women receive in the workplace plays a huge role in shaping their career trajectories. When that feedback focuses too heavily on personality traits and confidence, it can hold women back from reaching their full potential. What we see after analyzing our research data, is the need for a shift in feedback provided to women. This shift needs to include a greater emphasis on career advancement, leadership opportunities, and strategic professional development.
By addressing the feedback gap and providing women with the tools and resources they need to navigate their careers, we can help break down the barriers that have traditionally hindered women’s advancement in the workplace. Through targeted feedback, mentorship, and support, women can move beyond performance and confidence to achieve meaningful and lasting career success.
For more insights into Ceresa’s research and to learn how we can support your organization in fostering women’s career advancement, visit our website or contact us today.
Ceresa's Research Methodology: How We Gather and Analyze Data
Ceresa’s insights into the feedback women receive in the workplace are grounded in robust research methodologies. We collect data through surveys and tools used throughout our mentoring and leadership programs. This data is then carefully analyzed to assess differences across various demographic factors, including industry, age, parenting status, and gender.
Our analysis includes comparing and contrasting our findings with other perspectives in the market, ensuring that our insights are well-rounded and reflective of broader workforce trends. By focusing on a diverse range of factors, we can provide a comprehensive understanding of the unique challenges women face in the workplace and offer targeted strategies to address them.