As your experience confirms, men and women (generally speaking) are hard wired differently. The fact that the systematic brain (usually found in men) and the empathetic brain (usually found in women) process information through different parts of the amygdala mean that given available information, the two genders are going to process the information with a different set of priorities and strategies.

I think that the implications for training start with awareness that we are by and large hardwired differently and that it is not a personal “failing” that the other gender does not “do it” our way. Each set of neural pathways has its downside and upside. For the systematic type of brain, the upside is that the person will likely react quickly using available information to protect and minimize risk while maximizing reward given their perception of the situation. The downside is that they are less likely to be aware of the domain of information that includes human emotions and feelings in the situation. This means that their “efficient” response based on available data may not include the hugely important component of how people will feel about the proposed solution. Efficiency is not necessarily efficacy.

On the other hand, the Empathetic type of brain is, on the upside, likely to gather more information about probable emotional responses, as well as having a better understanding of how the individual will feel about the possible solutions. The downside is that they may become enmeshed in the emotional loop where everyone’s feelings cannot be satisfactorily attended to and therefore become relatively paralyzed about making a decision.

Once teams of men and women can identify which type of brain type they are (and they are not exclusive to gender) then these teams can begin to develop decision strategies that emphasize the strengths of each and minimize the relative downsides.

NOW A CAUTION: Any discussion about gender is fraught with inconsistencies. Hardwired brain types can be signficantly modified with training and experience. It must also be noted that typology is not exclusive, each brain type will have more or less strength in the other areas. So be careful of pigeonholling individuals based on any presumption of brain type.