Are There Differences in How Male and Female Leaders Are Expected to Contend with Urgency Bias?

Dan Pontefract shared an anecdote in Forbes this week (2018 Sep 6) about a female leader's response to a call from her supervisor that took her away during an important meeting. Pontefract regretted his 'failure' to correct the woman by educating her regarding urgency bias. Urgency bias, according to Hsee, Zhu, & Yang (2014), is a tendency people have to prefer spending time on urgent tasks (those with shorter completion windows and small outcomes) over spending time on important tasks (those that are more difficult, require more time to complete, yet involve more impactful outcomes).

The story raised several issues, some explicit (the hazards of urgency bias) and others implicit (the functioning of gender in leadership). The article reminds leaders to be conscious of, and work to resist, urgency bias. Having, myself, had a supervisor like the one described in the story, I found Pontefract's admonishment helpful. Additionally, I find value in raising awareness of my own potential as a leader to create urgency bias among those who work in areas I oversee. I was grateful to have read the article as a result of these leadership awakenings.

Additionally, something beneath the surface in the situation described by Pontefract quietly niggled in my mind. The author described his association with the unnamed female leader in the story using the term "my client." It was unclear if that meant he was a consultant for her or for her company. The article does not explain the relative roles of Pontefract and the woman, whom he claims to have failed. The language he used to describe her actions, and his inaction, reminded me of the double-bind faced by women in leadership.

In the incident on which the story centers, after the female leader returns from taking the call, Pontefract judged her quite harshly. "[I]nstead of asking her boss whether the matter was urgent—which it clearly was not—she employed obsequiousness. The leader caved to the burning and unrealistic demands of her boss instead of focusing on what was critically important to her team."

His determination that the interruption was not, in fact, urgent was evidenced by what the woman said upon returning to the meeting after a 20-minute interruption:

I’m sorry about that. My boss needs some data for a meeting next week. Can we reschedule this meeting for another time? He’s in a bit of a panic.”

Unfortunately, there was not enough information in the article to ascertain if her supervisor's request might have truly been urgent, regardless of the fact that the data did not need to be provided to her boss until the following week. There are many possible explanations, such as:

• It might take several days to gain access and provide the data, resulting in the need for her to immediately go to work on accessing the data.
• The supervisor might have needed the data very quickly in order to prepare for the meeting scheduled to occur in the next week.
• The woman might have needed to immediately speak with her boss to clarify how the data were to be organized.

I have been in many situations in which a data need for something "next week" was not only urgent, but an emergency, because of the complexity of retrieving, accessing, and summarizing certain types of data. Furthermore, what if there was a dependency on someone else who would not be available if the woman waited until the meeting was over? I have found myself in that situation as well.

Imagine this scenario:

The author of the Forbes article did not report being in earshot of the woman's conversation with her boss. Perhaps she did raise the question of urgency, or relative priority, with her supervisor and was instructed to give her immediate attention to his information need. The simple act of not explaining herself to Mr. Pontefract could have been the culprit of his perception that the woman did not respond appropriately. There seems to have been an unidentified expectation on his part that she explain herself to him in order to avoid his judgment.

Disparate Language

The tone used regarding the female leader was laden with judgments, without addressing the possibility that there could have been circumstances determining the woman's actions. The following quotes from the article exemplify the negative language used:

The leader disappears for 20 minutes clenching a mobile phone as if it were the Holy Grail that Indiana Jones was once after . . . When the leader returns and sits down in her now lonely chair, the next sentence she utters is telltale.

The leader was late for the meeting. What type of example is she setting when a topic as critical as the engagement of her team is the focus, yet she does not possess the capacity to show up on time, let alone arriving early to prepare?

It was clear to me she did not possess the skill to protect her time, or to prioritize what matters most at the moment.

Interestingly, nothing in the story offered a reason why it would be necessary for her to explain herself to the author. And, he described himself in somewhat paternalist terms as failing her. "But did I ever blow it. I failed. Not only did I acquiesce and fail to push back, but I also did nothing to warn the client about a disease [urgency bias] that is running rampant across corporations everywhere." Additionally, he avoided casting the very same judgment against himself when he didn't speak up.

Being respectful, I nod and say, “Of course, no worries. We can pick this up at a more convenient time.” 

He 'failed' to rescue her from the mistake he believed she made, but described her as obsequious ("showing servile complaisance or deference; fawning" - dictionary.com) for her assumed failure to speak up to her boss. It's this disparity between how he assesses his behavior and hers that points to gender as a potential factor, leading to the attribution bias evidenced in the story. Attribution bias "refers to the way in which people explain their own behavior and that of others," and "occurs when someone systematically over- or underuses the available information when explaining behavior" (Levine & Hogg, 2010).  While he was 'respectful' for not speaking up, she was 'obsequious' for engaging in the same behavior.

Impossible Choices

Women leaders continuously struggle with the contradictory expectations of being in charge while also being nurturing. As Catalyst found, "Women leaders are seen as competent or likable, but rarely both." It is entirely possible the woman in Pontefract's story was facing exactly that double-bind. Regardless of the level of true urgency in the situation it might not have been an option for her to question her boss' request.

I have experienced this double-bind, and paid the price for questioning a male supervisor, or telling a male boss something could not be done in the time window provided. And I have also witnessed other female leaders face the same impossible choice. For example, a female friend who works in the tech industry shared with me the following experience, which occurred just less than two years ago. The situation is a terrific example of urgency bias, and also exemplifies power differentials between male and female leaders. 

Research Explains Differences in Leadership Experiences Between Men and Women

Chuck Bednar (2014) reported on research by Tetyana Pudrovska and Amelia Karraker, published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.  He quotes a statement by Pudrovska explaining the differences between the experiences of male and female leaders. This research likely explains the story Pontefract shared and the experience my friend had that led to the loss of her job. 

It is possible Pontefract did know what transpired between the woman in his story and her boss, but did not include that detail in his column. It is possible the situation that called her out of the room was indeed not urgent and she could have spoken up without adverse consequence. Perhaps Pontefract was appropriately in a position to give corrective instruction to the female leader in the situation he described. There might be illuminating details that would lead to a different interpretation than that expressed in this blog posting.

Ironically, in the final sentence of the story the author reminds readers of the importance of practicing open thinking. The words "open thinking" are linked to an advertisement for a book he is hawking. Apparently, from Pontefract's example in the Forbes article, open thinking does not require being open minded. Or, more generously, it doesn't require discussing alternative explanations for another's behavior about which one disapproves. Whether gender is at the root of the attribution bias would be an important question for self-reflection by the author. For the rest of us, Pontefract's recommendation to be aware of and resist urgency bias is of value. And the story offers another important lesson. The reporting of negative, unsupported conclusions represents another leadership behavior to be carefully avoided.

References

• Bednar, C. (2014 Nov 21). Workplace authority affects men and women differently. RedOrbit. Retrieved from https://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1113284992/workplace-authority-affects-men-and-women-differently-112114/
• Catalyst. Infographic: The Double-Bind Dilemma for Women in Leadership. New York: Catalyst, August 2, 2018.
• Dictionary.com. (2018). Obsequious. Retrieved from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/obsequious
• Hsee, C.K., Zhu, M., and Yang, Y. (2014) The Urgency Bias. In Advances in Consumer Research. eds. June Cotte and Stacy Wood, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research. 42:86-90. Retrieved from http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/v42/acr_v42_17605.pdf
• Levine, J.M., and Hogg, M.A. Attribution bias. In Encyclopedia of group processes & intergroup relations. 2010. Retrieved from http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/processes/n14.xml
• Pontefract, D. (2018 Sep 6). Urgency bias is wrecking your ability to lead. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/danpontefract/2018/09/06/urgency-bias-is-wrecking-your-ability-to-lead/#7e620de728ae
• Pudrovska T., and Karraker A. (2014 Nov 19). Gender, job authority, and depression. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 55(4):424-441.