Timeout for Leadership-your one-minute leadership idea

Message from the Lead Dog Principal #16

Do you treat everyone the same? If you do, that could be a problem.

We become obsessed with making sure that we treat everyone the same. We can get locked in mentally with some sort of personal rule that no matter what happens, everyone is treated equally. I think we do not see individuals but merely see people as simple and perhaps interchangeable parts of our organization. But is this right?

Of course, you do not want any sort of individual bias or prejudice influencing the way you perform at work. And of course, everyone should have equal access to all the same things regardless of the traditional biases that we live with. We should never discriminate for any reason. You already know of the common reasons for discrimination and I find no reason to list them here. Understanding this aforementioned concept does not override my underlying theme for the day. Namely, we should treat people differently, yet fair.

People earn this different treatment. People earn this by showing that they can do the job and can take part at a certain level within your team or organization. Those that have proven that they can do the job should get a different treatment than those that have proven otherwise. It might take a new person on the team time to show this.

People also earn this different treatment with their attitude that they bring to the workplace daily. It is hard to give any special consideration to a malcontent who constantly looks to take the easy way out or one who consistently badmouths and denigrates teammates or the organization.

Some workers have showed that they can do their jobs and have shown that they are responsible and accept full accountability for their actions. These are the people that are pleasures to work with.

These are the same people that when they make a mistake, they are easy to forgive and to coach up. And these are the same people that will own their mistakes and rarely, if ever, make the same mistake twice. You can easily live and grow with these people. These folks are the winning foundations for success.

Likewise, those that are always willing to go the extra mile should be afforded some special consideration. It is easy to grant a request to a person who always stands tall when you ask that person to do something that might be extra.

Some people on your team have earned that “Mulligan.” Yes, they have earned that “do-over.”

Thinking back to my coaching days, I believe I treated each player fairly with respect and dignity. However, I treated my quarterbacks differently. I always felt as the head coach I needed a special relationship with my quarterback. On the field, and yes, off the field, I felt as though my quarterback had to be me. And sometimes I was harder on the quarterback than I would have been on the rest of the team. The rest of the team knew this and accepted this. And I think the way I handled this led to championships or near championships.

Treating everyone the same is not a winning formula. You just have to treat everyone fairly. You must hold high expectations for everyone, but help each person find their individual avenue to meet those high expectations. Good luck!