According to scientific data, yes. So how do we tap into those differences to improve our interaction in the workplace, and at home for that matter?

Anyone who has ever lived or worked with a member of the opposite sex doesn’t need any scientific data to prove that men and women think differently. They experience the difference everyday in communication, emotional awareness and everyday simple tasks like giving directions.

The November 2007 issue of Canadian Living looked at this issue in an article entitled “The Female Brain Unplugged.”

Here are just a few of the scientific facts they supported in the article:

• “The principle hub of both emotion and memory formation - the hippocampus - is larger in the female brain, as is the brain circuitry for language and observing emotions in others.”
• “Women have 11% more neurons governing language and hearing than men do.”
• “Brains are divided into two hemispheres: men use specialized regions in one side or the other to complete tasks sequentially. Women use both sides equally to complete multiple jobs.”

These facts help us better understand why it is that women attach more emotional information into what they are hearing then men do and why women are better at multi-tasking then our male counterparts. We are simply wired differently. I won’t review the whole article, you can go and read it for yourself, however, it made me start to think about how we can embrace these differences to better communicate and understand one another.

These differences probably account for that female trait ‘intuition.’ Learning to listen to our own intuition could serve us very well in meetings and interactions with colleagues. Listen to your increased neurons and larger hippocampus and read the faces in the room. It may be as simple as knowing who in the room is an ally for one of your ideas or projects.

The article reminds us that at the end of the day we are equal in intelligence, just different in how we process and look at things. So here is the big question, how do we embrace the differences so we complement each other, thereby building better relationships at work and at home?