In no way am I going to share my personal feelings about Tiger Woods. That would be another blog on another site. What is so obvious to me though-are the parallels between the controversy at this year’s Masters and when unfairness erodes your organization’s culture. Ask yourself: Do you make exceptions for your rock stars? Is that the right thing to do? Should you? Shouldn’t you? If you answer, Heck yeah-we treat our rock starts different and we should….have you considered what that does to the rest of your workforce? What happens when non-rock star employees take it up on themselves to assume they have the same privileges? Did you intend to disengage your non rock starts-but remember-they could be on their star path-or maybe you have unmotivated them from the start.
Let’s start with Tiger since we all have the same access to the information:
On Friday, April 12th, in preparation for his fifth shot, Tiger dropped his ball close to where he had played his 3rd (believing he was in conformance with Rule 26). A TV viewer actually called in (where do you even find that number?) about the club Tiger’s drop. The committee reviewed it while Woods was still on the course and found no problem. The Committee determined he had complied with the rules.
While it was decided that Woods violated the rule, the committee waived disqualification because it initially determined a drop proper when Woods was still on the golf course. Had the initial review been done properly, Woods would have taken a penalty but still been able to sign the correct card. A recently amended rule announced at the 2011 Masters, Woods was not disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard because his infringement was based on television evidence.
Now, take this other example at Augusta National. China’s 14-year-old Guan Tianlang was penalized for slow play on during Friday’s second round at Augusta National. Guan, at 14 the youngest competitor ever at the Masters, posted a 75 that included a penalty stroke for slow play that put him at four-over 148.
Woods later said of Guan’s ill-fortune: “Well, rules are rules.”
I could add a lot more here about Tiger, opposite viewpoints, signing the scorecard, the decision, Nick Faldo’s passionate thoughts on the subject-but you have the idea. So how does this relate to fairness and employee engagement at the workplace?
Fairness, or unfairness-It happens on the golf course, board rooms, cubicles and yes, even remote workplaces. Let’s look at the workplace:
By Practicing Unfairness, You Foster Disengagement-Example #1
Playing Favorites: I once had a really good manager. He knew our business, leadership team, customers, industry trends, and challenged us-BUT his one fault: he played favorites-big time. For 2 team members, that was great news. The rest of us? We weren’t them-even when we outperformed the favs. Why? Friendships. We knew he would have our back-until a “fav” was in the picture. Then it was a total acceptance of, he will side with them-because they are buds. My case is out the window. At least the manager didn’t’ hide it, but it was disengaging-and it disengaged top notch team members. I haven’t forgotten those instances, even though some went back 9 years ago. They are as fresh in my head as all the things he did right.
Parking Spots: Bob Kelleher writes about this in his best-selling engagement book, Louder Than Words, 10 Practical Employee Engagement Steps that Drive Results. Most workers can handle and accept pay differences. Of course this has limits-but in general, we can accept executives earning more than us. What we can’t handle in unfairness. So when a fancy pants Executive steps out of his car, and only has to walk 10 steps to the front door of the building, it is maddening. “We” get paid a lot less-and hey, we do not have the work concerns, and stress you do-but everyone (minus handicapped) can make the walk to the building. Why should someone making $35K have to walk farther? Take a page from Patagonia’s parking rules: If you have an energy efficient car-there are spaces designated up front. Everyone else? Park in the other spots. You can be Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia, or an intern-and as far as parking goes, it is all the same-unless you are helping the environment.
So what to do with this? Awareness is the first step. What are the unfair practices your organization follows? Should you reconsider? Most likely employees have voiced their frustrations-but have you really listened and considered if that is best for your company, culture and team members across all levels?
With Dale Carnegie reporting that 71% of US employees are not fully engaged-you cannot afford to consider fairness or unfairness within your organization?
Steph. Mello, VPE
Sources:
Yahoo Sports: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/tigers-charge-halted-unlucky-bounce-010544038–golf.html
Bleacher Report, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1603425-tiger-woods-penalty-should-he-have-disqualified-himself-after-illegal-drop
Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidlariviere/2013/04/13/tiger-woods-penalty-should-have-been-assessed-on-the-spot-or-not-at-all/
DaleCarnegie: INFOGRAPHIC, What Drives Employee Engagement http://www.dalecarnegie.com/employee-engagement/engaged-employees-infographic
