Is Being Fair Important to Business Success?

In one of my recent CEO and Owner Roundtables we had a couple of the members say that they didn’t like the word “fair” as it applied to business. I found this fascinating, because my understanding is that most of the conflict between people worldwide is based on a perceived lack of fairness between the parties involved.

Since these leaders believe in living by The Golden Rule and treating others as they would like to be treated, I was certain that they didn’t mean to imply that they wanted to be treated fairly but that they didn’t want to treat others fairly.

I believe their concerns lay in how they were experiencing arguments for “fairness” in their business life. Specifically, it seems that people were using the “fairness” argument to try to get something for nothing. For example, a team member saying “I’m doing the same job, so to be fair I should get the same pay” when they aren’t producing results at the same level in the role.

I spend my time helping leaders create financial success and happiness in their lives, and one of the cornerstones of our work is building a sustainable high-performance culture. You can’t do this unless you’re building a meritocracy, i.e. rewarding the team members who do the best job in the role they’re in.

That’s my idea of being fair. Your rewards should be commensurate with your contribution toward the goals of the business. This can be a particular challenge for family businesses because everyone in the business knows when family members only have their jobs because they’re family. This situation is a morale and motivation killer.

I too would be annoyed if a member of my team was using the “fairness” argument to try to shame me into giving them something they haven’t earned. Nice try, pal.

Sustained business success is about creating win-win relationships, and it’s not a win for the leader if they aren’t getting something of equal value in return for what they’re giving the team member, the client, the vendor, etc. I believe in that kind of fairness.

Don’t be a stranger. (770) 993-1129. tdockery@TheResolveFirm.com