Here’s an interesting question to start your day.

What’s the difference between discrimination and favoritism?

Is there a difference?

There is a very fine line between favoritism and discrimination and many of us, especially managers, don’t realize that we dance along that line on a daily basis. Here’s an example.

Let’s just say for the purpose of this example that you are a white manager. You have a white employee who is going through a divorce and she asks you, at the last minute, for an extra day off. Company protocol says you must request time off a week in advance but you are sympathetic to her situation and let her slide.

A black employee also asks you for an extra day off at the last minute. Instead of sympathising with her situation you point out that she really needs to ask for time off based on the guidelines in the employee manual and you deny her request.

Technically, have you discriminated against the black employee? You might want to say no because you simply followed company protocol. But, by allowing the white employee to take an extra day off without following the same protocol you are showing favoritism.

So where do we draw the line? Some of us are automatically discriminatory against religious, ethnic, age, and gender groups not because we’re uncomfortable with them but because we don’t identify with them. We don’t even realize that we’re showing favoritism because we’re simply doing what feels comfortable.

But answer this question.

If your cousin is a mortgage representative at a large bank and your brother in law is having trouble getting a loan, you’d ask your cousin for help. If your next door neighbor had the same problem, would you make the same referral? Why would you only offer to help those you are very close to?

Favouritism.

Today I challenge you to take a few minutes and look at the relationships you’ve been forming with your team members. Are they ethical or are you showing favouritism to one group or another based on your personal likes and dislikes? Is this something you can change?

I hope so. Your success as a manager depends on it.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

As a manager, you’re going to find yourself in a unique position. Your superiors will assign you a task and you’re going to turn around and delegate it to members of your team. When they’re done, you’re going to turn it in to your superiors and take all the credit.

Not cool.

The problem is that the more authority we have, the more we seem to value ourselves. In reality, though, we may talk more than the contributing members of our team - delegating and organizing - but when it comes to taking actual action we’re really not doing as much as we think.

So then we develop a secondary problem.

The more we think of ourselves, the less we think of the others we are working with.

That’s not good either.

You have an unabashed view of yourself. You think you’re the big cheese. And despite the fact that your team members are doing most of the work on a given project, you feel as though you are better than them and minimize the value of their work.

And their the ones doing it all to begin with.

The next time you delegate a task to your team, take a step back and think about how involve you really are in the project. When the project is finished and goes to the next level, make sure the right people know who participated and to what extent.

It’s fair, and it doesn’t make you any less of a manager. Giving proper credit will actually make you a better, ethical example!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Leadership Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Yesterday we started talking a bit about bias and today I want to touch just briefly one one of the four main types of bias - the conflict of interest. You may be wondering how conflict of interest can be categorized as a bias and I’m going to explain just that.

Simply put, if you are favoring people who you believe will be able to provide you some sort of perk or benefit later on down the line you have a conflict of interest. You are biased towards those people because of what you hope to get from them and instead pass over people who may be better qualified to do the work but less able to throw a perk your way.

How unfair is that?

Here’s an example. Let’s say you’re the office manager in a physician’s office. A pharmaceutical representative comes into your office to try to give you information and samples about a new cholesterol medicine. When he visits he brings you free samples, a huge tray of bagels and fruit for the entire office to share, and a really nice padfolio to thank you for your time. He also tells you that for every new rX for this medication you write your office will receive a bonus or referral fee.

A pharmaceutical representative from another company comes in with a different cholesterol medicine. She brings you some free samples but doesn’t shower you with gifts. Instead she gives you a lot of great information about the drug and the research and studies behind it. The cost for consumers is a bit less than the other drug, too. The pharmaceutical company doesn’t have a referral program so you won’t get any kickbacks for selling what looks like a decent drug.

Which will you choose?

You might, right now, say that you’d pick the second but the truth is that if you were in that situation you might unconsciously choose the first. Why pass up the opportunity for a referral fee, even if the drug isn’t as great as the second, right?

Wrong. That’s comletely unethical.

But do you even realize you’re making decisions like these?

Probably not.

I urge you to take a close look at the decisions you’re making this year. Are they best for your team or are you looking for what’s best for you personally?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Leadership Development

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

As we enter the New Year I want to kick things off by taking a cold, hard look at ethics and how they apply in the workplace. Most managers believe they are ethical and, consciously, they may be. The problem is that everyone has a habit or bias that can be viewed as slightly unethical, whether they realize it or not.

Most of us have some sort of implicit bias, whether we recognize it or not. What is an implicit bias? It is one that, despite you not saying it outright, shows in the way you act. There are a few organisations that have tested managers and individuals to uncover some of their implicit biases, including Harvard and Tolerance.org. Here are a few examples of information about biases they uncovered:

• A large percentage of participants had an implicit bias towards young people.
• A large percentage of participants had an implicit bias towards white people.
• A large percentage of participants had an implicit bias towards rich people.
• Consciously desiring to not be biased will not make you an unbiased person.

What does this mean? Let’s say, for example, you claim not to be biased towards men. You have two similar resumes on your desk and you have interviewed both candidates - one male and one female. They are both highly qualified and it’s a very difficult decision to make but we’ll say for the purpose of this example that there may be one or two areas in which the female candidate might make a better fit. You claim to be reviewing their applications from an objective standpoint but your implicit bias towards men allows you to justify hiring the male candidate instead. You literally dig for a reason not to hire the female candidate and you  may not even realize why.

Being biased can be costly. You can lose great candidates or team members and possibly even be accused of bias and become the victim of a discrimination lawsuit.

I urge you to step back and think about your management ethics and hiring practices. Are you biased? Do you even realize it? Are you treating your employees fairly? Think about it and let me know.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Development

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

More often than not, corporations are looking to “diversify” their work groups. While some are diversifying with gender or ethnicity in mind, others are taking a closer look at age diversity - hiring younger and older employees to create a delicate balance of seasoned and experienced workers with those who might not be as experienced but will bring fresh ideas to the table.

So here’s the problem. You have a position available and two candidates have make it through the interview process. One is a young college graduate with plenty of references, great internship experience, and fresh ideas. The other is a middle-aged individual with plenty of working experiernce in the field. When it comes down to it, both are great candidates but you have to wonder which would fit the dynamic of the team better and suddenly you’re weighing your options in terms of age.

Have you just crossed the line into the realm of age discrimination?

We’ll talk more later about the actual rules regarding age discrimination in the UK. Until then, think about how you would make your decision. Would you focus on age or would you try to go back to their resumes and interviews and find more concrete information with which to make your decision?

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Courses

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”