Yesterday I presented at the Delaware SHRM Conference. As always, it was a delight to be with a group of professionals who want to make a difference and find new ways of doing a complex job.Being in Human Resources is much like being a psychologist at heart. People come to you for a myriad of reasons, not just to check on their benefits packages.

In fact, the benefits are so often about getting help with handling conflict and how to get along with the opposite gender. That, as a matter of fact was the subject of my presentation “Radical Relating: How Men and Women Do It Right”.

Here is one of the fascinating bits of research I found as I was preparing for the day. We are wired differently. Now, that’s not big news. We all know THAT! What is interesting is that it shows up in how we play as kids.

Since the male of the species is wired spatially he sees the world in terms of objects and distance and form. Studies with boys and dolls show that they will take that little sweet thing and throw it in the air to get a sense of its weight. They will hit two or three together to see about density. These dolls, like toy cars are meant to understand how form and function relate.

Now this is what is REALLY important. These same boys CAN learn to tend to dolls as if they are living little ones. They can wrap them in blankets, feed them and comfort them……IF THEY ARE NOT MADE FUN OF!!!!

In families where it is acceptable for little guys to be caring they will do so after they figure out the spatial relationship of the object in hand.

Study after study indicate that the guys who can learn to take care of dolls, who are permitted to play with them in a gentle way grow up to be great fathers who will not balk at changing diapers and getting up in the middle of the night to feed their baby.

They also make compatible colleagues at work. Good info to know.