NGM Thoughts 13: That’s Not Fair!

In a recent Equity Leaders session on Inclusive Leadership, we talked about different traits that leaders should understand and practice, one of which was fairness. I was challenged by one of our participants to explain more.

The world is not fair.

We know this, yet some believe we live in a meritocracy. Let’s chalk that up to being idealistic vs. willfully blind. My thoughts are that anyone, even a child, knows what unfair feels like, yet many of us can’t exactly say what fair feels like.

Here are three things that I like to keep in the front of my mind when I am thinking about fairness:

Outcomes

Whatever it is that you are determining or have influence upon (such as compensation, opportunity, or promotion)—is it decided based on merit such as capability and/or effort?

Processes

Are your processes of determination transparent, consistent, objective, de-biased, and inclusive of all?

Communication

When someone is disappointed by the outcome or process or when someone perceives that something is unfair does it come with an explanation that is delivered with respect to the individual?

These are a lot of things to juggle, and chances are that you won’t always be fair to everyone, but that’s where the last point is most important.

Sometimes we have to have the courage to be unfair, and the integrity to explain ourselves…to be fair.

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Written by Next Gen Men Co-Founder Jake Stika as part of a personal challenge to share some of our reflections around what it means to be a better man in today’s day and age. Join us every Friday for NGM Thoughts.