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Think of Peggy Olson from Mad Men, the talented, ambitious woman who had to navigate a male-dominated advertising world, constantly proving her worth beyond the roles others assigned to her. Decades later, her story still resonates.
Recent research underscores this enduring issue: a study published in the American Economic Review found that male employees assigned to male managers are promoted faster than when assigned to female managers, a phenomenon not observed for female employees.
Too many of us, especially those in positions of power, have mistaken politeness for collaboration and compliance for culture fit. We've praised "team players" who defer, absorb, and accommodate, not necessarily the ones who move the team forward.
Here's the uncomfortable truth:
Most of these behaviors weren't innate.
They were assigned
Conditioned.
Reinforced by you, me, and the systems we've all participated in.
👀 Look closer:
- Who gets to speak uninterrupted?
- Who gets labeled "difficult"?
- Who always picks up the dropped balls, smoothing the tension, or stepping back so someone else can shine?
👀 Look closer:
Who gets to speak uninterrupted?
Who gets labeled "difficult"?
Who always picks up the dropped balls, smoothing the tension, or stepping back so someone else can shine?
🎯 The Problem: Roles Assigned by Patriarchy, Not Ability
From school classrooms to executive boardrooms, people, especially women, BIPOC, neurodivergent professionals, and those from historically marginalized groups, have been conditioned to play small, stay agreeable, and not make waves.
In most workplaces, that conditioning quietly turns into bias-masked-as-fit:
- The "helpful" one ends up unofficially managing everything
- The "quiet" one gets skipped for leadership, no matter how insightful
- The "charismatic" one rises, even when collaboration suffers
These aren't Roles. They're reactions, and they get reinforced by every performance review, promotion, and panel where someone says, "They're just not the right fit."
🧠 The CollabGenius Difference: Roles Defined by Contribution, Not Compliance
At CollabGenius, we're not here to label people.
We're here to liberate them from the roles they were forced into.
Our Role-Based Assessment isn't about how people seem but what they do, especially when things get hard. We measure:
- Role – what someone contributes to move a team forward
- Coherence – how reliably they do it, even under pressure
- Teaming Characteristics – how people relate to others, individually, the team, and the organization.
These insights provide immediate clarity: who to trust with what kind of work, where people naturally excel, and how to align strengths with strategy.
It’s about seeing the real person — not the persona, not the stereotype, and not the position or job that patriarchy has assigned them.
When applied, this approach transforms how teams collaborate — reducing friction, increasing clarity, and designing contribution in a way that drives ROI.
🚩 Why It Matters: Behavior Under Pressure > Performance in Comfort
Collaboration isn't about getting along. It's about getting things done together.
That means learning to:
- See the Explorer who sees what others don't
- Back the Watchdog that protects what matters
- Elevate the Vision Former, who turns chaos into clarity
- Appreciate the Communicator whose unseen emotional radar keeps the team afloat
It also means being honest about the Action Mover who bulldozes or the aspirational Vision Mover who never delivers.
Because the goal isn't politeness.
It's performance with purpose.
🔍 The Shift: Role Clarity Changes Everything
Things fall into place when you start seeing people through the CollabGenius lens.
- That person you thought was "flaky"? They were miscast.
- That burnout you blamed on "personal issues"? It was systemic misalignment.
- That "quiet quitting"? It was someone giving up on a team that never made space for them to contribute with clarity.
Role clarity doesn't just optimize teams.
It frees people to do the work they can do.
✊ This Is Not a Personality Test. It's a Liberation Tool.
We don't care if someone's introverted or extroverted. Bold or soft-spoken.
We care if they can:
- Solve problems that matter
- Advance shared goals
- Contribute in ways that sustain the whole team
We care whether the people in charge can finally see them, not through cultural expectation or bias, but through their actual contribution.
If you're ready to stop rewarding performance theatre and start recognizing real contribution, let's talk.
The future will be for the people who dare to change how they see themselves and others.
🔗 Ready to see it differently? Let's talk. Email: marci@collabgenius.io
