When the Playing Field Isn’t Level: How I Tackled Favoritism and Built a Culture of Fairness

iNSPIRED WORKS

Aug 14

4 min read

There is a moment in every HR professional’s career when they are forced to choose between what is comfortable and what is right. Mine came on an otherwise ordinary Tuesday morning, when a high-performing team member walked into my office and quietly closed the door behind her. Her voice was steady, but her frustration was unmistakable. She had been passed over for a high-visibility project again in favor of a colleague who happened to share the manager’s former school and weekend golf outings. She wasn’t asking for special treatment. She was asking for equal footing.

That conversation changed the way I approached my role as an HR Business Partner. Favoritism is one of the most corrosive forces inside any organization. It moves quietly. It rarely announces itself. But over time, it erodes trust, diminishes morale, and drives your best people out the door. I knew I had to act, and I knew I had to do it thoughtfully.

Recognizing the Pattern: The Strategic Work Behind the Scenes

Before I could address the issue directly, I needed data. Instinct and a single complaint were not enough to drive systemic change. I began by conducting a quiet audit of project assignments, performance review scores, and promotion histories across the team over the past eighteen months. What I found confirmed what my team member had described. A clear pattern had emerged: three high performers with consistently strong output had been repeatedly overlooked for stretch assignments, while a smaller group with close personal ties to the manager had received disproportionate opportunities.

My next step was to map the impact. I looked at retention risk, engagement survey results, and informal exit interview notes from two employees who had left the team in the previous year. Both had cited “lack of growth opportunity” as a primary reason for leaving. What once looked like individual management style was now clearly a structural problem with measurable business consequences.

Armed with this analysis, I requested a one-on-one with the manager. I did not enter that conversation with accusations. I entered with curiosity and evidence. I presented the data in a way that invited reflection rather than defensiveness, and I asked open-ended questions: “How are you currently identifying who is ready for stretch assignments?” and “What does your decision-making process look like when a high-visibility project becomes available?” The manager’s answers revealed something important: there was no structured process. Decisions were being made informally, based on comfort and familiarity rather than capability.

Providing Guidance and Direction: Moving from Awareness to Action

Once awareness was established, the real work began. I partnered with the manager to co-create a transparent talent selection framework. We defined the criteria that would be used to match employees with opportunities: current performance, demonstrated skills, development goals, and readiness indicators. This gave the manager a concrete tool to use instead of defaulting to instinct, and it gave employees a clear understanding of how decisions were made.

I also introduced structured calibration conversations into the team’s quarterly rhythm. These sessions brought together the manager and a cross-functional partner to review talent in a consistent, documented way. Calibration did not eliminate the manager’s voice; it simply ensured that voice was balanced and accountable. Over time, the manager began to see how much untapped potential had been sitting right in front of them.

Equally important was the conversation I had with the high-performing employees who had been overlooked. I met with each of them individually, acknowledged that the lack of opportunity had been a real and valid experience, and shared what steps were being taken to address it. I was careful not to speak negatively about the manager, but I was honest that changes were being implemented. People deserve to know that their feedback creates action, not just documentation.

Creating Learning Opportunities: Investing in Growth for Everyone

Addressing favoritism is not only about correcting unfairness in the present. It is about building the skills and habits that prevent it from returning. I worked with the manager to identify a targeted leadership development plan that included unconscious bias training, coaching on inclusive decision-making, and peer learning sessions with other managers who had successfully built equitable teams. This was framed not as remediation but as professional growth, and the manager embraced it in that spirit.

For the high performers who had been sidelined, I worked with them to build individualized development roadmaps. These roadmaps identified specific projects, skills, and experiences that would accelerate their growth and visibility within the organization. I connected them with senior mentors outside of their direct team and advocated for their inclusion in the next round of cross-functional initiatives. Within six months, two of the three had received their first stretch project assignments, and one had been formally nominated for a leadership development program.

I also brought a broader conversation to the leadership team about how the organization identifies and develops talent at scale. Favoritism often thrives in the absence of clear systems. By advocating for more structured succession planning and transparent promotion criteria across all departments, I helped create conditions where fairness was baked into the process rather than left to individual goodwill.

The Lesson That Stayed With Me

Favoritism does not always come from malicious intent. More often, it comes from unchecked habits, unexamined comfort zones, and the very human tendency to gravitate toward what feels familiar. As HR professionals, it is our responsibility to interrupt those patterns with compassion, data, and a clear commitment to fairness.

The high-performing team member who walked into my office that Tuesday did not need me to fight her battle. She needed me to change the conditions that had created it. That is the work worth doing.

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