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I suppose in most management cases the point of management is to watch the employees and make sure everything is running smoothly. There is a great need for this and something employees even appreciate even if they don’t always show that. Take a manager away for a couple of weeks and what will usually occur is that small things at least begin to break down.

It’s just human nature to get a little lax in things when it isn’t being watched or when there isn’t a little pushing going on. That’s why there are coaches for sport teams. The team would not push itself as hard as the coach does.

But make no mistake that as much as management watches its employees, the employees watch back twice as much. In fact I would say employees notice just about everything. Employees notice how things are delivered and if they are delivered in a fair manner. Sometimes this has been stated that everyone should receive the same exact treatment. I disagree. Everyone should be treated fairly in the situation that each employee presents.

For instance, if an employee has a birthday of a father who lives in town and needs a day off by all means take it. If the next employee has a birthday of a father that lives far away and needs three days off, fine. Both situations are fair and the employee received what was asked for. If it has been treated the same they either would have both had one day or both had three days. Employees will see when it is fair and what I have found are very receptive to this.

I explained this to my employees that it was always to their benefit to be treated fairly rather than the same. In the same respect I would discuss and train that it was also their responsibility to be fair to the company, to management, and to each other.