Neither showing nor receiving favor is a new phenomenon. However, favoritism can bind both the giver and the receiver in an unhealthy alliance. Favoritism and the expectations of loyalty it creates can limit options for future action, impair objectivity, and even compromise one’s values. Unfortunately, this is particularly common in the workplace.
In the workplace, some authority figures intentionally give promotions or other favors to unqualified team members based on personal loyalty. Interestingly, the favored team member may eventually pay it forward by recruiting other team members who are loyal to them without minding whether the team member is qualified for the new position. Eventually, such a misguided act from one manager can spread across departments and become an organizational norm.
The ripple effect of such a move can create a toxic environment that affects the well-being of all team members as well as the functioning of the organization. Moreover, the perpetuation of such behavior easily leads to a distorted outcome. Before you know it, team members’ morale starts to dwindle, and performance declines, all because of an act by an authority figure to trade preference for power. There are three tips that could help redirect such thinking and conduct.
1. Avoid playing favorites. The best way to stop favoritism is to avoid giving or receiving it. Although it is obviously difficult not to receive or give favors, especially in the workplace, it is worth avoiding because it could be counterproductive. Organizations should have a policy that spells out what to do when favoritism is unfairly observed in the workplace. While favoritism could be beneficial if authentically done, it could also be counterproductive by negatively affecting other employees’ morale and performance.
If one team member notices another team member being undeservedly promoted, the team member who felt unfairly treated will find it difficult to function at their capacity because of a feeling of unfair treatment. The subtle nature of favoritism in the workplace makes it difficult to prove, and team members may be afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation. Managers should take complaints of unfair favoritism seriously. If ignored, it could lead to envy between colleagues, withholding information against the favored team member, and falsely spreading rumors about the favored team member. Instead, promoting an exceptionally talented team member for their contribution is far more rewarding than favoring a team member for their loyalty or seniority at the company.
2. Promote talent, not loyalty. Managers should avoid promoting team members based primarily on loyalty rather than talent. A person may expect to be promoted due to the number of years they have invested in the company. While such loyalty is commendable, promoting a team member based on talent is far more sustainable than promoting someone based only on loyalty. Sometimes, loyalty can be based on seniority or an exchange quota system.
In other words, loyalty is transactional, while talent is sustainable and valuable. A talented team member is likely to take the initiative in doing what they know how to do and be proactive in their work without constantly waiting for directives from their manager. Consequently, organizations could experience a higher return on investment when people are promoted based on skills and their ability to take initiative in solving problems. While both features are useful in the organization, empowering team members to take initiative is advantageous.
3. Encourage employee empowerment. Creating a work environment that empowers team members to take initiative on their job tasks encourages self-reliance. Most people are naturally self-directed until their work environment starts to shape them into becoming dependent on someone else’s direction. In other words, after hiring and training people to do their jobs, it is critical to allow them to do the job on their own without micromanaging them in fear that they will make mistakes. Giving favors to certain team members has the potential to handicap the team members’ ability to commit to their job tasks, which in turn makes them reliant upon being loyal to their manager.
Employee empowerment is maximized when team members are treated equitably without any favor. In the absence of favoritism and personal loyalty, team members do their job tasks wholeheartedly with a sense of ownership and meaningfulness. Showing favoritism, in essence, could impair creativity and initiative. Personal loyalty, on the other hand, is a trap with no easy way out. Once loyalty is withheld, the relationship between the two people is at risk of falling apart because the cord that once held the relationship is weakened.
Organizational leaders should understand the delicate balance between expecting loyalty from their team members and losing their team members once they stop being loyal to them.
Although favoritism and loyalty can be motivational tools for productivity and high performance, they can be short-lived. Both favoritism and loyalty have a transactional component, but they are neither transformational nor sustainable. In any environment, whether at work, in a relationship, or in a social setting, people perform optimally when they can express themselves without being conditioned or manipulated.
For these reasons, to get people to be the best version of themselves, you should consider these three tips: don’t play favorites in the workplace because it can affect other team members’ morale; promote talent, not loyalty, because talent promotes creativity and initiative while loyalty is transactional in nature; and empower others to express themselves through how they conduct their job tasks.
References
Mistry, P. (2027). Should I Promote the Loyal, Experienced Employee or Fresh Talent? www.thehrdigest.com/promote-loyal-experienced-employee-fresh-talent/
Williams, C. L. (1996). Business decisions, human choices: restoring the partnership between people and their organizations, https://archive.org/details/businessdecision0000will
Xu, H., Pan, J., Zheng, X. (2022). The Upside of Playing Favorites, https://hbr.org/2022/07/the-upside-of-playing-favorites.
Three Tips for Promoting Effectively
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23.03.2024
Neither showing nor receiving favor is a new phenomenon. However, favoritism can bind both the giver and the receiver in an unhealthy alliance. Favoritism and the expectations of loyalty it creates can limit options for future action, impair objectivity, and even compromise one’s values. Unfortunately, this is particularly common in the workplace.
In the workplace, some authority figures intentionally give promotions or other favors to unqualified team members based on personal loyalty. Interestingly, the favored team member may eventually pay it forward by recruiting other team members who are loyal to them without minding whether the team member is qualified for the new position. Eventually, such a misguided act from one manager can spread across departments and become an organizational norm.
The ripple effect of such a move can create a toxic environment that affects the well-being of all team members as well as the functioning of the organization. Moreover, the perpetuation of such behavior easily leads to a distorted outcome. Before you know it, team members’ morale starts to dwindle, and performance declines, all because of an act by an authority figure to trade preference for power. There are three tips that could help redirect such thinking and conduct.
1. Avoid playing favorites. The best way to stop favoritism is to avoid giving or receiving it. Although it is obviously difficult not to receive or give favors, especially in the workplace, it is worth avoiding because it could be counterproductive. Organizations should have a policy that spells out what........
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