Leadership Blind Spots: The Problem with "Equal" Treatment

Have you ever heard a leader say, "I treat all of my employees the same"? While I assume positive intent when I hear this statement (yes, I have heard it more than a few times), I often wonder if they really do treat all employees the same. More importantly, I question whether they should. In the modern workplace, it's necessary to treat individuals according to their unique needs and strengths rather than uniformly.

In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey reminds leaders to value the diversity of individuals rather than assuming a one-size-fits-all approach to leadership: “Treat them all the same by treating them differently.” I agree with Mr. Covey! How can leaders lead effectively without understanding and addressing the unique needs of individuals and tailoring their approaches accordingly? 

This is where strategic employee listening becomes important — by gathering and analyzing employee feedback through various channels, leaders can better understand the distinct needs, motivations, and challenges of their team members. To ensure translation of vision to action, leaders must adapt their leadership style to follower development (confidence and commitment) and the unique abilities, needs, and motivations of their team members. In this article, I will discuss employee listening strategies that can help leaders identify and address individual needs while avoiding the pitfalls of uniform treatment.

The Hidden Costs of Treating Everyone the Same

When leaders treat everyone the same, it can lead to a range of negative outcomes, both for individuals and the organization as a whole. While the intention may be fairness, uniform treatment often overlooks individual contributions, resulting in a plethora of unintended consequences:

• Decreased Employee Engagement: Employees may feel undervalued if their unique contributions, needs, and preferences are ignored. This can lead to disengagement and a lack of motivation to go above and beyond. Disengagement often manifests in reduced productivity, lower quality work, and decreased initiative. The impact can cascade throughout teams, creating a culture of minimal effort rather than exceptional performance.
  
  
• Loss of Morale: Treating everyone the same can feel impersonal and dismissive, especially for high-performing employees who may feel their extra effort is not recognized or rewarded. This uniformity can create a sense of futility among team members who consistently exceed expectations. When extraordinary effort receives the same recognition as meeting basic requirements, it can lead to a gradual erosion of workplace enthusiasm and pride. Over time, this can transform a once-vibrant workplace into an environment of mediocrity.
  
  
• Inequity in the Workplace: Uniform treatment often results in inequity rather than fairness because employees have different starting points, challenges, and goals. This approach can inadvertently disadvantage team members who face unique barriers or require specific accommodations to perform at their best. The resulting inequity can create lasting impacts on career progression and job satisfaction. Moreover, it can perpetuate existing workplace disparities rather than addressing them meaningfully.
  
  
• Stagnation of Individual Growth: Employees with distinct learning styles or career aspirations may not receive the tailored coaching, feedback, or opportunities they need to grow (and an AI-powered solution like Perceptyx’s aptly named Grow can provide for leaders!). This one-size-fits-all approach to development can leave some team members struggling while others remain unchallenged. The lack of personalized growth opportunities can lead to skill gaps, missed potential, and frustrated career ambitions. In the long term, this stagnation affects both individual career trajectories and organizational capability.
  
  
• Reduced Team Performance: Teams thrive on the diversity of skills, perspectives, and approaches. By treating everyone the same, leaders may fail to leverage individual strengths, weakening overall team performance and innovation. This uniformity can prevent teams from achieving optimal composition and effectiveness. The resulting inefficiencies often create gaps in capability and missed opportunities for collaborative success. Furthermore, teams may struggle to adapt to new challenges when individual talents remain untapped.
  
  
• Increased Turnover: Employees who feel invisible or undervalued are more likely to leave the organization. High performers, in particular, may seek opportunities where their unique contributions are acknowledged. The cost of this turnover extends beyond recruitment expenses to include lost institutional knowledge and team disruption.
  
  
• Lack of Innovation: Uniform treatment discourages creativity and individuality. Employees may feel discouraged from sharing ideas if they believe their input will be treated the same as everyone else's, regardless of quality or originality. This suppression of individual thinking can stifle organizational innovation and prevent breakthrough solutions.
  
  
• Misalignment with Organizational Goals: Employees have different roles and responsibilities that require different types of support, tools, and recognition. Uniform treatment can result in misaligned priorities and inefficiencies. When employees receive standardized support regardless of their role's specific demands, it can lead to resource waste and missed opportunities for optimization.
  
  
• Poor Relationships and Trust: Employees may perceive a leader who treats everyone the same as disconnected or indifferent. This can erode trust and weaken the leader's ability to build strong, meaningful relationships with their team. The resulting distance between leaders and team members can create communication barriers and reduce psychological safety. These weakened relationships often lead to decreased collaboration and reduced organizational agility.
  
  
• Missed Opportunities for Inclusion: Leaders who fail to recognize and accommodate diverse needs may inadvertently exclude or marginalize certain employees. This oversight can create barriers to full participation and contribution from all team members. The resulting lack of inclusion can prevent organizations from benefiting from their workforce's full range of perspectives and talents. Additionally, it can damage the organization's reputation as an employer of choice for diverse talent.

Proactive Steps for Individualized Leadership

Leaders should take proactive steps to avoid treating everyone the same by adopting strategies that emphasize fairness, individualization, and inclusivity. Here are some actionable practices that leaders can implement to ensure a personalized approach to leadership:

• Understand Individual Strengths and Weaknesses: Get to know your people! A mantra that has served me well over the years is "People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care." This understanding goes beyond surface-level knowledge to include learning about each team member's abilities, challenges, and aspirations. Consider implementing strength assessment tools and creating detailed profiles of each team member's skills and development areas. Make it a priority to update these insights regularly through ongoing dialogue and observation.
  
  
• Set Personalized Goals: Work with employees to create individualized performance goals and development plans that align with their skills and aspirations. Provide flexibility in achieving these goals, considering each employee's unique approach and working style. Regular check-ins should focus on progress toward these personalized objectives rather than comparing employees to a standardized benchmark. This approach allows for more meaningful growth and development while maintaining alignment with organizational objectives. Remember to adjust these goals as circumstances change and new opportunities arise.
  
  
• Adapt Leadership Styles: Practice situational leadership by adapting your approach based on the employee's level of competence, confidence, and task complexity. Be supportive, directive, consultative, participative, or empowering based on the employee's needs in a given situation. This flexibility requires developing a deep understanding of different leadership styles and when to apply them. Document these insights to help refine your leadership approach over time.
  
  
• Provide Customized Feedback and Recognition: Tailor feedback to each employee, focusing on what resonates most with them. For example, high performers might value specific constructive feedback, while others might benefit from encouragement and acknowledgment of incremental progress. Recognize achievements in ways that matter to the individual — some may appreciate public praise, while others prefer private acknowledgment.
  
  
• Encourage Open Dialogue: Foster an environment where employees feel comfortable discussing their needs, challenges, and preferences. Create multiple channels for communication, including regular one-on-ones, team meetings, and anonymous feedback or crowdsourced options. Make it clear that you welcome honest input about your leadership style and team dynamics. Demonstrate your commitment to open dialogue by actively implementing changes based on feedback received.
  
  
• Prioritize Equity Over Equality: Focus on giving employees the tools, resources, and support they need to succeed, rather than treating everyone identically. Ensure that accommodations and opportunities are distributed based on individual requirements and contributions. Create transparent processes for requesting and receiving additional support, ensuring all team members understand how to access the resources they need.
  
  
• Foster Continuous Learning and Development: Create personalized learning paths that align with each employee's career goals and current skill levels. This might include a mix of formal training, mentoring relationships, and on-the-job learning opportunities. Encourage knowledge sharing within the team, leveraging each person's unique expertise. Create opportunities for employees to “each one teach one” in their areas of strength, reinforcing their own learning while building team capabilities.
  
  
• Build a Culture of Belonging: Celebrate diversity by actively seeking out and valuing different perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. Create opportunities for team members to share their unique viewpoints and contribute to decision-making processes. Establish regular forums for sharing diverse perspectives and experiences. Measure belonging through regular employee engagement surveys, pulse surveys, and team feedback sessions.
  
  
• Lead with Empathy: Take time to understand each employee's personal and professional challenges. Develop your emotional intelligence through active listening and observation. Create space for employees to share personal circumstances that might impact their work while maintaining appropriate professional boundaries.
  
  
• Leverage Data-Driven Insights: Use engagement surveys and other people analytics to better understand individual and team dynamics. Use a listening platform like Perceptyx’s People Insights Platform that can help track progress while maintaining appropriate privacy and confidentiality. Share relevant insights with team members to foster transparency and understanding and act on these findings.

These proactive steps, when implemented consistently and compassionately, can help create a more inclusive, engaging, and high-performing workplace where each individual can flourish.

Using 360 Feedback to Identify Leadership Blind Spots

One of the most powerful pathways to learning how your leadership style impacts different team members is through 360 feedback. 360 feedback can reveal blind spots in how leaders approach individual treatment and help identify areas where uniform treatment might be hampering team success.

Many leaders who claim to "treat everyone the same" are often surprised to discover through 360 feedback that their behavior varies significantly across their teams. This feedback can illuminate unconscious biases, reveal unintended favoritism, uncover a lack of cultural competence, and highlight areas where some team members might need more support than others.

The key to using 360 feedback effectively in this context is focusing on behavioral questions that reveal patterns in how you interact with different team members. Look for disparities in areas like communication frequency, development opportunities offered, and recognition styles. These insights can help you develop a more nuanced and effective leadership approach that truly meets individual needs.

Moving Forward: The Power of Individualized Leadership

I will say again, "People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care." Leaders can build stronger relationships, increase employee engagement, and foster a more productive and harmonious workplace when they see and treat employees as individuals. By acknowledging and addressing the unique qualities of each team member, leaders can create a more inclusive, dynamic, and productive workplace. This approach not only enhances individual performance but also strengthens the overall organization. Fairness does not mean treating everyone the same — it means understanding and meeting people where they are to help them thrive.

Uncover Your Leadership Blind Spots with Perceptyx

Ready to discover how your leadership style impacts different team members? Perceptyx's 360 feedback solutions can help you identify blind spots in your approach to individual treatment and develop more effective leadership strategies. Our comprehensive People Insights Platform combines advanced analytics with practical insights to help you build stronger, more personalized connections with your team.

To learn more about how Perceptyx can support your journey toward more effective individualized leadership, schedule a meeting with a member of our team.