Deciphering Gender Differences in Communication Styles

Nancy Droesch
Co-Founder, WILLO LLC

Women use different language patterns than men when speaking with their own gender. Although highly effective with like speakers, these patterns can derail a woman’s effectiveness when she is operating in a predominantly male environment. We explore these patterns and the benefits of being “bilingual”. Once you understand the differences in communication styles, you can address quickly why miscommunications are occurring and adapt your style accordingly.

Key Take-A-Ways

1. Don’t buy into the narrative that women have an inferior speaking style
2. Recognize when mismatches in genderlects are causing miscommunications
3. Become bi-lingual

More about Nancy:

Nancy Droesch co-founded WILLO LLC in 2016 to assist organizations in reaping the benefits of thought diversity by tapping into the potential of their women leaders.  Ms. Droesch is a pragmatic and team-oriented senior leader who uses humor and personal experiences to engage with her clients.  Ms. Droesch developed WILLO’s Facilitated Peer Coaching program for rising female leaders to help them gain the skills needed to navigate the business world.

Ms. Droesch launched her career at Deloitte in the early eighties when women were first joining the public accounting profession in equal numbers as their male peers.  She was the first woman partner in the St. Louis office of Deloitte.  Ms. Droesch served as Partner in Charge of the Deloitte’s Women’s Initiative (WIN) in the St. Louis office in its inaugural years. WIN was established to promote the advancement and retention of women at Deloitte.  As the WIN leader, she identified issues and developed responsive programs in connection with the national WIN Program.

Ms. Droesch retired from Deloitte & Touche LLP in 2014 after 33 years in progressively responsible roles culminating as an Audit Partner.  Her client service roles included leading multi-disciplinary teams delivering audit, tax, and consulting services and reporting directly to her client’s Board of Directors in a variety of industries.  As Partner in Charge of the St. Louis Audit Department for seven years, she was responsible for recruiting, retention, and deployment of highly talented professionals, growth initiatives, and operational excellence.  As a leader in Deloitte’s India audit collaboration, Ms. Droesch’s engagements were used as prototypes for how to integrate Indian resources into US health care audits.  In 2013 and 2014, she was the India Champion for the Health Care Provider sector responsible for expanding the integration of Indian teams into the US teams.  Ms. Droesch brings the same practical results-oriented skills to her WILLO clients that she used as a Partner at Deloitte.

Community Involvement

• Council on Accreditation, former Chair of the board
• Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, Secretary of board
• Emmaus Homes, Inc., Treasurer of the board
• Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Audit committee member
• Partnership for Downtown St. Louis (now known as Downtown STL, Inc.), former Treasurer
• Edgewood Children’s Center, former Chair of the Board
• Confluence St. Louis (now known as FOCUS ST. Louis), former Chair of the Board
• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, member
• Missouri Society of Public Accountants, member
• Louis Forum, member
• Louis Business Journal Forty Under Forty award recipient, class of 1997

Education

• Washington University, Master of Business Administration
• Miami University of Ohio, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
• Certified Public Accountant

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