Lu Pillar: Lead Fairly
Read time: 3 to 4 minutes
IF YOU ONLY DO ONE THING
Tell people what you will base the decision on before you make it.
People don’t need to agree with every decision, but they do need enough information to understand how it was reached. That makes difficult decisions easier to explain and gives people something useful to work with afterwards.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
You may have perfectly reasonable reasons for a decision.
Experience. Availability. Capability. Business need. Development. Timing.
But if those reasons aren’t communicated, your team only sees the outcome. When people cannot see how a decision was made, they fill in the gaps themselves. That can quickly become a story about favourites, relationships, visibility or informal rules, whether that story is accurate or not.
WHAT IT CAN LOOK LIKE
An opportunity appears to have been decided before anyone knew it existed.
The same people repeatedly receive interesting work or development opportunities.
Someone misses out and gets no useful explanation.
Nobody knows who made the final decision and “the business decided” is the only reason provided.
People stop putting themselves forward because they assume the outcome is already settled.
WHAT IT COSTS
People spend time trying to work out how decisions really get made. Effort shifts towards being visible rather than doing useful work, leaving you to deal with frustration, speculation or disengagement around a decision that may have been entirely reasonable.
A good decision can still create unnecessary problems if nobody can see how you made it.
WHAT THIS ENABLES
Explaining the criteria doesn’t mean giving everyone a vote. It means making the process transparent. That can actually make management easier. When people understand what decisions are based on:
· You spend less time explaining the process after the outcome is challenged.
· People are more likely to understand an outcome even when it is not the one they wanted.
· Employees know what they can work towards for the next opportunity and development conversations become more specific.
· Informal rules and speculation have less room to grow.
· You can check your own decisions against the criteria you said you would use and patterns in who receives opportunities become easier to notice and examine.
Fair leadership is not everyone getting the same outcome. It is using relevant criteria consistently and being able to explain the decision.
Transparency will not make every disappointing decision feel good. But it does make the decision easier to understand, learn from and defend if needed.
USE THESE WORDS
Before an opportunity is allocated:
“This opportunity is coming up. We'll make the decision based on [criteria]. [Person/role] will make the final call by [date]. If you're interested, or there is relevant information we should consider, let me know by [date].”
Share the criteria before the decision.
TRY IT THIS WEEK
Choose the next discretionary opportunity you are responsible for. Write down the criteria before you decide. Share them with the team.
CHECK IN TWO WEEKS
Look at the opportunities or discretionary work allocated during the fortnight.
How many decisions were made after the criteria had been explained to the team?
That is your measure.
WHEN THIS GUIDE ISN'T ENOUGH
Explaining a decision clearly doesn’t automatically make the decision fair or lawful. If patterns in opportunity or treatment may involve discrimination, workplace rights or other formal concerns, use the appropriate organisational process and seek qualified advice.
NEED MORE SUPPORT?
Lu offers two next-step options.
Run It gives teams practical tools to work through the issue themselves.
Embed It provides independent support to understand what is driving the problem, tailor the response and help new practices stick.
