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SFHS Academy Brief
December
2011
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Fa-vor-it-ism: The practice of giving unfair
preferential treatment to one person or group at the
expense of another.
As a leader, have you been accused of
favoritism? What should be
done about it, if anything, depends upon the situation.
You need to
find out what is causing the employee to make this claim
before you decide how to react.
For example, if you are accused of playing
favorites after publically recognizing another employee,
pay attention to who is making the claim. If the complaint
is lodged by a poorer performing employee, I would not
react to their complaint. If this employee
is complaining about a peer being recognized for doing
something they are unable or chose not to do, you need
to be ok with that. The last thing
you want to do is to stop recognizing the individual
performance of the higher performers. The top performers
will feel unappreciated and encourage them to stop going
above and beyond because “no one seems to
notice."
If you are being accused of favoritism because
you delegated a project or assignment that was of
interest to your employee to that person’s peer, then
perhaps you should have given this employee more chances
to get involved in this or other projects. If that is the
case, admit it. You could
respond, “Perhaps you have a point….maybe I should have
given you a chance to work on that project….but it would
be unfair to take it back from Joe now…but I have other
projects and assignments that I could involve you
in…let’s discuss what those projects might be and see
what items I can delegate to you..” This can
turn out to be a win/win. You can
take some projects off your plate and involve the
accusing employee in a project that will help develop
their knowledge and skills… Remember that your tone is
important here. You should be sincerely interested in
figuring out how to get this employee involved in
projects of an interest to them and are of value to the
organization.
On the other hand, if an employee has accused
you of playing favorites and you are doing things
socially outside of work with just a few of your
employees, I would recommend you change your approach.
If a
leader goes to lunch or a private party with just a few
of their employees, I think it’s unrealistic to think
that it will not create the perception of playing
favorites. In this case, their perception is their
reality and even if you are convinced you are being fair
and consistent in your treatment of your employees, the
perception of favoritism will make leading a team even
more difficult. When you
have to make the tough decisions concerning raises,
promotions, discipline, and delegating tasks, having a
friendship with the employee makes it even more
difficult. In
addition, the perception that you play favorites will
make it tougher to gain your employees support and
cooperation. We should always be friendly with our
employees, but developing or maintaining a friendship is
likely to limit your effectiveness as a
leader.
In summary, while it is natural for some people
to have more in common than others, if you are in a
position of authority, you are expected to develop
professional work relationships that are free from bias.
Employees
should not be subjected to unfair treatment as a result
of a supervisor’s personal inclination to favor a
particular person or
group.
Source: Stephen
Bullard, Leadership Consultant, Trusight, Stephen.bullard@trusightinc.com;
763.253.9160.
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