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Be Fair
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Do not play favourites
Give the credit
Take the blame
Be Fair – Don’t Play Favourites
One of the challenges of leadership is to overcome our biases.
Draw out the talents and strengths of our entire team.
What are some of the ways that we as supervisors make the mistake of playing favourites?
- Overburden one highly-competent worker with too much work.
- Favour one person in the scheduling to the disadvantage of others.
- Spend lunch hour and breaks consistently with one person.
- Publicly praise “favourite’s” work and overlooking reasons to praise others.
How can the mistake of “playing favourites” weaken the team as a whole?
- Resentment among co-workers toward both favourite and supervisor.
- Defeatism – lack of enthusiasm to take on new responsibilities that may not be acknowledged.
- Frustration – lack of opportunity to take on new responsibility.
- Upsets team dynamic – work not distributed equally.
How can we as leaders avoid the pitfall of “playing favourites”?
- Spend equal time and attention on all.
- Do not punish the good workers with more work.
- Do not punish the group for the few.
- Use discretion when issuing reprimands.
- Be fair.
Be Fair – Give the Credit
Make all team members feel equally appreciated, give credit where credit is due:
- Give sincere praise to co-workers who have earned it – and do not be afraid to do so in public (but remember to distribute praise all around: not just on one “favourite”).
- A word of praise given in privacy is also effective, and particularly so, when you have reason to believe that public attention might embarrass your team member.
- Keep a record of your team members’ merits – in the same way that you may already keep a record of demerits or “warnings”.
- Recognise improvement as well as excellence.
- Be specific in your praise – generalities do not carry as much weight or make as great an impact as specifics do. Remember, specific means descriptive. Take the time to describe to the worker what went well and what they did to bring that about. (Refer Communication Skills Module: Feedback must be specific.)
Be Fair – Take the Heat
A leader takes the blame when things go wrong.
The supervisor, who is also a leader, will shoulder responsibility for the problems of his or her team.
To summarise: to be fair, a leader must not play favourites; give credit, and; take the blame.