Should you treat all team members the same?

Should you treat all team members the same?

An interesting question, isn't it? I'm sure it's a question many leaders think about. After all, as leaders, we want to treat everyone fairly, right??

In fact, I would even go so far as to say that treating every team member the same is the opposite of treating everyone fairly.

Imagine you would start managing everyone on the team with a hands-off approach because you want to avoid micro-managing at all costs. Some employees would thrive because they love autonomy and managing themselves. But other employees need a more involved manager. Someone who gives them clear priorities, acknowledges every achievement, and also provides safety.?

Or imagine you would give every employee the target to present at least once in front of the senior management team. Again, some might love this opportunity to be visible, to present and share their knowledge. But others might not have the ambition to be more visible. Or they might like the opportunity but communicate much better in a 1:1 or small group setting.

Treating everyone the same might come with good intentions because we are focussed on equality and fairness. But it would also ignore our team member's individual needs, ambitions, backgrounds, challenges and unique circumstances.?

Instead of focusing on equality and providing everyone with the same resources and opportunities, we need to focus on providing equity.

Equity recognizes that each person has different motivators, working preferences, circumstances, and sometimes even disadvantages based on years of historical and sociopolitical factors. With an equity-based focus, we can start to provide and allocate the exact resources, development and opportunities individuals need to reach equal outcomes.

How do we do that?

A leader should start by investing time in understanding their team members' personal goals, ambitions and strengths.

Their strengths will give leaders a powerful insight into how they best work, what motivates them, how they best communicate and prefer to build relationships.

When we know these things, we can customize our management approach to each individual based on their and your needs and preferences.

When you spend a little bit of time reflecting on this by yourself and with each individual, you will be able to build individualized strategies.

Some examples of what you can focus on are:

The right management style?

Examples to reflect on:

• How independently do they like to work?
• How often and what do they report back to you?
• How often do you catch up on a 1:1 basis?
• How do they like to be acknowledged and celebrated?
• etc

?

The right environment?

Examples to reflect on:

• Preferred working times,?
• The atmosphere in the office,?
• Meeting structure,?
• Desk arrangements
• etc.

The right communication style?

Examples to reflect on:

• Do they thrive in group discussions or more on a 1:1 basis?
• Do they prefer written or verbal communication?
• Do they prefer to have more detailed information before each meeting?
• Do they need time to reflect before they like to share their thoughts?
• etc

Their social/ relationship preferences?

Examples to reflect on:

• Do they like to participate in group outings or company functions??
• Do they like to keep their social and work lives separate??
• Do they prefer to have a small circle of trusted friends/ peers or thrive on networking and interacting with many people??
• etc.

How to provide feedback?

Reflect on:

• How easy is it for them to receive feedback
• What is the right environment?
• What is the best way to deliver the message?
• etc.

Individual development plans

Reflect on:

• Their individual circumstances (life and career)
• Where do they want to go, and what do they want to achieve?
• Do they even want to grow at the moment?
• Do they have visibility in the organization?
• Are they regularly exposed to new ideas or people??
• What is their level of confidence, self-belief and courage? How can you support them?
• What is their preferred learning style, i.e. in-person training, online course, shadowing, mentoring, coaching, on-the-job learning, exposure to other projects,?
• etc.

Does this mean we have to accommodate every preference?

No, that would not be feasible or realistic. But you can certainly commit to spending some time understanding your team member's strengths and become more intentional in how you approach and manage them individually.?

Show your employees that you understand and appreciate their uniqueness.

It can be challenging to know where to start. And it also takes a lot of effort, time and commitment to understand what every team member needs and how to serve them best.

But it is very rewarding and will lead to successful and truly fair outcomes for leaders and their teams.

PS: If you would like some help understanding your team members' strengths and how to best manage the team, my strengths-development programs for teams and leaders might be a great support for you. Reach out, and let's have a chat.