Outcomes vs. Process

Another great insight from Kathleen de Boer's Gender and Competition is her explanation of how men and women are different competitively by the value placed on outcome versus process.

Outcomes identify winners and losers, demarcate successes and failures. Process is continuous and ongoing; it is a journey rather than a destination. The male worldview tends to value outcome over process; the female worldview tends to value process over outcome. Each group trains harder and therefore more effectively when the practice activities match their collective mindset.

Females generally have a higher tolerance than males for the mundanity of repetitive drills. Their process focus means they pay more attention to the details of particular skills and are more attuned to technical specifics. A drill-based training regimen also allows them to bond with each other and the coach through non-confrontational, method-focused activity. The valuation of process over outcome allows groups of females a synergy of spirit in practice settings rarely available to male groups.

Males, concerned with proving themselves, are more easily distracted during repetitive practice than females. They lose interest in drills and have a harder time than females focusing on the specifics of a skill. The lack of consequence in the activity, the very feature that makes it appealing to females, makes it difficult for males. Males are more enthusiastic, and therefore more cooperative, in outcome-oriented, competitive sequences similar to those found in game situations.

These respective strengths and weaknesses, however, are reversed in actual contests. The valuation of outcome over process allows groups of males a synergy of intent in competitive settings rarely available to their female counterparts. Females, acutely attuned to method, are more easily distracted during competition than males. The primacy of consequence, the very feature that makes competition appealing to males, makes it difficult for females.

Pragmatically, this difference means males and females enter situations with divergent road maps for how to proceed, and eventually how to succeed. "Alone at the top" implies a certain detachment from personal relationships; it requires a degree of distance from underlings, an aloofness from the daily chaos of the average workplace, and the ability to compartmentalize decision-making and emotion. "The center of connections" implies a certain engagement in personal relationships; it requires a degree of familiarity with underlings, an engrossment in the daily chaos of the average workplace, and the ability to co-mingle decision-making and emotion (de Boer, pages 26-28).