Thoughts on Favouritism

I got accused of showing favouritism today. And honestly, it isn't the first and it won't be the last, but I'm genuinely sick of people throwing around the word and accusing people of favouritism in HDA without thinking about what it *actually* means, nor having evidence to support the claim. This isn't necessarily a blog post for everyone to read, as most people already know most of what I'm about to say, i'm a predictable b*tch :') BUT if you ever get sent this link by me or anyone else, read it. Cause we are sick of having to explain that while you may be accusing us of favouritism, it probably didn't happen that way at all. 

I've been in agencies for a long time, and only been apart of leadership teams for a small part of that. I've witnessed people genuinely being the victim of favouritism, I've seen people who clearly haven't been the target of favouritism and accused people of favouritism anyway, and I've been passed over for promotions because someone's friend/girlfriend etc. has been there ready to take the job instead. And yet I have never accused anyone of favouritism, I've just worked harder. 

Thankfully, true favouritism is rare in HDA. I know the founders team and I work hard to avoid it at all costs. We always try and look at every situation objectively. And yet we are the group MOST LIKELY to be accused of favouritism*.

Why?

​Well I think it is because we very rarely discuss the full reasonings behind promotions and demotions with the wider HDA population. Mainly because people will take it the wrong way, if we criticize their work (or lack thereof) publically. Which I can understand. Plus it would be boring, can you imagine us writing up a 10 page document justifying the reason for a promotion or demotion? I don't think even the person on the receiving end of the promotion/demotion would read a ten page document outlining all the points for and against their promotion. The point is you NEVER know the full story behind every situation except those involved. So maybe don't judge or attack founders when you don't know what fully happened in the first place. There could be/will be elements of any promotion/demotion/second/third/fourth chance etc. 

If you genuinely think you have been a victim of favouritism in HDA, come and chat to me about it, don't go telling your friends how 'X always shows favouritism and is SO MEAN!' because you didn't get a promotion you thought you had a right to get. And if you think I, Vibrational, showed favouritism towards you, approach me directly, say it to my face, and I will tell you exactly how I *didn't* show you favouritism, and probably send you this blog post ;) 

*This isn't a poor founders article, it is our job to address your concerns! But it really isn't cute when someone is accusing us of favouritism without trying to do something about it (talking to another founder, confronting them directly etc) or even worse, talking about it behind our backs.