How Embracing Your Feminine Energy Helps in Business

This is the fourth blog in a four-part series that I’m writing about women in business. Each blog in the series focuses on VIBE, or Vixen in Business Energy. Make sure not to miss the rest by signing up for our blog here! 

Send a text to one of your badass lady friends right now and ask, “How do you transition out of your masculine energy into your feminine energy?” And then please share their responses with us on LinkedIn and Instagram—especially the emojis—because chances are that text will lead to a firing squad of confusion or laughter.

Seriously though, how do you transition out of your masculine energy into your feminine energy? How do you move from being in charge of—taking a wild guess here—everything, which is all masculine energy all day and then move back into your femininity? Chances are that you move between the two all day. However, once you learn to recognize when you’re in each energy, you may discover an imbalance. 

What Does Masculine Energy Feel Like in the Office?

According to the Harvard Business Review, in 2018, not a SINGLE management occupation in the US was dominated by women. Fast forward to 2010 and several management occupations are dominated by women. The strides women have made in business (that you have made in business) are exceptional. I don’t want to ignore that. However, as with anything, there is a darkside and for women, that darkside is moving into masculine energy in order to achieve.

Consider the reasons that, over time, have been used to argue against gender income parity:

• Blatant discrimination: Women are not as intelligent or as deserving of being paid the same wage as a male who has the same skills and does the same job
• Motherhood: Women leave the workforce to have children and raise families. If they didn’t do this, they would move up the salary ladder more quickly
• Women can’t negotiate
• Women are too emotional

So what did female leaders do to combat these stereotypes? They leaned into the masculine energy that was—and still is—widely accepted in the workspace. Even if you’ve never thought of your work energy as masculine, tell me if any of these behaviors resonate:

• You focus on “being tough” when making decisions
• You never show emotion in a work setting
• You use sports or other masculine terms and analogies for winning in your speech
• You never ask employees about how they are doing internally
• You temper down your femininity. This may include your looks, the way you talk, or the way you move
• More often than not, your conversation with others or “small talk” is superficial
• You don’t “back down” or hold much space for other ideas
  

https://goop.com/wellness/spirituality/balancing-your-feminine-and-masculine-energies/

What Does Feminine Energy Feel Like in the Office?

How did you feel while reading about what masculine energy feels like in the office? How did your body react? When I wrote it, I felt my shoulders get closer to my ears, almost like I was trying to make myself bigger and take up more space. That’s what masculine energy feels like. Feminine energy, on the other hand, feels very different. This is how feminine energy shows up in the workspace:

• You are decisive with decisions, but make them based on both inner and outer qualities
• Although you set boundaries, you are not afraid of emotions and will show them to employees
• Results-oriented conversations with employees don’t only focus on outer wins—more profits, hitting hard goals—but also on helping them become better people
• You never temper down your femininity. You dress in a way that makes you feel good, the hard edges in your speech/word choices soften, you physically move more naturally
• You have meaningful conversations with your employees about their inner person and know what’s going on in their lives
• You always hold space for new ideas and therefore your team is comfortable innovating

When women lean into both their feminine and masculine energy, high-functioning teams become outstanding teams. Interested in understanding how leaning into your feminine energy can produce better results for your team? Contact me here.