The CEO Coach | CEO of the Year '19 | McKinsey, Skype | Author | Follow for posts about business, leadership & self-mastery.
Favoritism at work isn’t just unfair—it’s costly. Who you promote signals what you value. When you promote the wrong people, the right people start to look elsewhere. Because they feel: 🛑 They can’t trust the company’s leadership. 💢 Their hard work isn’t worth anything. 👻 Their accomplishments are invisible. 🚨 The culture doesn’t support their values. ⏳ They don’t have a future in your company. Here’s how you fix that: 1. Find those who live and breathe your values. 2. Be clear about what it takes to move up and reward those who show they have it. 3. Recognize those who set a high bar for themselves & inspire others to do the same. 4. Look for inconsistencies in your own behaviors and role model what you want to see. 5. Create a culture where employees feel safe to challenge unfair decisions. It takes far less to recognize your top performers than it does to replace them. The behaviors you reward are the behaviors you encourage. How do you reward your best performers? Let me know in the comments. ♻️ Repost to help your network. And follow Eric Partaker for more. 📌 Secure your spot for my FREE talk for CEOs this coming Thursday! Limited spaces available. Talk title: “7 Mistakes That Hold All CEOs Back (And How to Avoid Them)” Register for free here: https://lnkd.in/dxP8MRqS
I agree, favouritism in the workplace creates more harm than good. Promoting based on merit and values is key to building a strong, motivated team. Clear expectations for growth, recognising those who push the standard higher, and allowing employees to safely voice concerns are all essential for long-term success. It's important to reward not just performance, but also the alignment with company values. How do you think leaders can better ensure consistency in their own behaviours to avoid unintended bias?
Favoritism caused me to resign from my state government job back in 2017. Someone who was there for only a few years was suddenly promoted to three titles above me, while I was stuck in a stagnant position for 13 years, despite my hard work and dedication. This person was promoted just because of having a “friendly” relationship with the boss and did minimal work. We can say sending in my 2-week notice was a wake-up call for them.
What a powerful statement. It's incredibly demoralising when organisations promote the wrong people because 1. They do not pay enough or have the experience enough to recruit the right people 2. They lack the knowledge of what problem they are trying to solve 3. They are just looking for a lacky instead of a person who can propel the role and the department 4. They have a bunch of people who haven't got the skills but they would rather choose from them than look at people who are better suited 5. The wrong people are making the decisions on who to hire - where there are people making decisions on who they would like to work with rather than who is best suited for the role Those wrong choices are quickly identified and noticed. It's not fair on them either - it causes imposter syndrome where they think and know they are ill fitted for the role, and then they become even more unstuck when others perform better.
Favoritism is often a symptom of a deeper issue: company culture. Simply put, if the culture doesn’t value fairness, transparency, and trust, favoritism will continue to undermine performance and morale. To create real change, leadership has to be fully committed to building a healthy culture. When leaders embrace a culture based on shared values and recognition of genuine performance, teams become more creative, engaged, and inspired. This isn’t just about individual behaviors; it’s about setting a clear, consistent standard that motivates employees to thrive because they know their hard work and contributions are truly valued. Shaping this kind of culture requires intentional action and accountability from the top down.
What may appear as “favoritism” to some is actually utilitarian to a skilled executive. He’s looking for the unique person who fits unusually well in some valuable capacity within the team he wants to build. The winning chemistry often manifests as a deep friendship between executive and mentee across multiple facets of life. Executives are looking for the rare people in whom they might deposit their wisdom, experience, and vision such that ultimately the orotege can effectively represent them to others in an ever-broadening and deepening manner. Such a right hand can be worth millions over time. Billions even. That’s the game at the top—find just the right members for the band such that it has a world-winning sound. It’s not about a cookie-cutter metric against which the crowd is measured. It’s about trust and chemistry. Finding a mentee position with a top executive could happen in conjunction with a natural series of promotions and career development, but that’s not ideal. The ideal is for an executive to identify a strong protege-type (or other vital skill or talent which others might not discern) as early in the mentee’s career as possible. The longer the relationship has time to develop, the richer the ultimate fruit.
EMS Crew at Aspen Medical
1moUnfortunately, it happens all the time and seeing clowns being given opportunities that they don't deserve is very demoralising.