ARTICLES

One of the most well-intentioned and most frequently misapplied principles in management is the commitment to treating everyone the same. It comes from a genuine desire for fairness — no favouritism, no double standards, consistent application of the rules. These are admirable intentions. And the conclusion drawn from them is mistaken.

Treating people identically is not fairness. It is a shortcut that substitutes consistency of process for equity of outcome, and it disadvantages people who begin from different circumstances.

A parent returning from parental leave needs a different reintegration conversation than someone who has been working continuously. A team member managing chronic illness needs a different conversation about workload than one who is not. A person early in their career in a new industry needs a different level of support and guidance than someone with twenty years of relevant experience.

Applying the same response to all of these situations because “we treat everyone the same” does not produce fairness. It produces an appearance of fairness in the process while the outcomes quietly move in different directions.

Genuine fairness requires leaders to understand the circumstances of the individuals they manage and to calibrate their response accordingly. That is more demanding than uniform treatment. It also requires more trust,  which is why some leaders resist it. The preference for treating everyone the same can, on examination, be more about the leader’s comfort than the employee’s need.

The question is not whether a process was applied consistently. It is whether the outcome it produced was genuinely equitable.

 

If you want practical support your leadership development, Blue Kite HR Consulting can help you take a proactive approach before issues become bigger problems.