You’ve most likely rented a space on Airbnb. Since its founding in 2007, the accommodations platform has “grown to over 5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe.” Additionally, Airbnb employs around 7,000 people.
Airbnb CEO and cofounder Brian Chesky has garnered attention in his 17 years running the company. In a recent interview with Fortune magazine, Chesky says he ignores commonly accepted leadership advice and thinks it’s OK for leaders to have favorites within their team.
Chesky argues that employee favoritism can spotlight high performers as an example to follow, utilize skill sets more efficiently and use favored employees in strategic planning decisions.
For leaders, the question becomes, are there merits to this leadership style, and does having favorites help or hurt workplace culture? Here’s what experts have to say about a favoritism leadership philosophy—and how to identify what makes sense for team-building and workplace culture.
Favoritism can create unrealistic expectations
In the same interview, Chesky says, “The favorites have to be [picked] on fair criteria.” Chesky invites up to 100 employees to biannual meetings where business decisions are made—and sometimes, the same people are invited repeatedly. But Chesky says that identifying who can provide valuable insight isn’t political.
Brian Chesky’s leadership style involves having favorites, but you have to figure out what style works for you as a leader. When choosing a leadership style, you’ll need to consider your own expectations as well as the expectations of your team.
Unrealistic expectations and perceived favoritism can create dissension in your team, jaded employees and a standard of excellence that can’t be achieved. Being clear about what’s expected for career growth and giving every team member the same opportunity to achieve success builds a strong team.
“I do believe that it can cause some dissension within the workforce when you do put it out publicly like that,” says Karen Hills Pruden, DM, CDE, SPHR, a leadership strategist and global business solutions consultant who has worked with high-performing leaders for the past 15 years.
Pruden continues, “I think it’s a morale issue that can be impacted. You may have some people jumping ship because they may think, ‘Why am I working here?’”
Each team member should feel valued
Today’s workforce includes multiple generations, with Gen Z making their presence known. According to a survey from Intuit, the entrepreneurial mindset is strong among Gen Z (and millennials). Your team is interested in more than just having a full-time job.
Effective leadership is ensuring each team member feels valued. It’s important to ensure employees can earn a good income, do meaningful work and be led by supportive leaders so they won’t want to look elsewhere for work.
Playing favorites may not be the best way to make each member of your team feel appreciated and integral. When employees are competing to be one of the favorites, it can create a tense work environment where those who don’t make the cut feel left out.
Sylvia Baffour, an emotional intelligence consultant who has worked with organizations like Whirlpool, Lockheed Martin and Capital One, says favoritism is a recipe for a toxic work culture because it gives employees the impression that some individuals matter more than others.
“Even if it’s what he [Chesky] was angling at, which is the idea of ‘I want to choose the star people and favor them, and everyone else can model them,’ what it’s saying to your people is that you care about people differently. Thriving, healthy cultures within organizations are ones where everyone feels that true sense of belonging, that psychological safety,’ says Baffour.
There are other ways to reward excellence
Strong teams create business growth; people are a company’s greatest asset—and there are numerous ways to reward productivity, performance and excellence. For example, you can create clear incentive-based programs and standards for what leads to career advancement that are available to all employees.
“The advance of HR…[has] done a really great job at bringing insights to…people’s talents. And we know so much about…how employees get motivated,” says Katie Parker, CEO of Startup Your HR.
Parker says she assumes every employee shows up to work wanting to make an impact. “When you start with that assumption instead, you are looking for opportunities to develop everyone on the team. There’s a difference between analyzing your team for strengths and opportunities than playing favorites,” says Parker.
Treat your team well, and growth will follow
Elizabeth Hioe, chief people officer at Mercer Advisors, says the spirit behind favoritism, at least as Chesky defines it, may not be wrong, but its branding is off.
Hioe elaborates, “Chesky…describes favoritism as a way to highlight and reward top performance—that’s a good instinct. It’s important to recognize exceptional performance. And, as other studies suggest, great performance raises the bar for others. The idea of overt favoritism, and where I think it’s problematic, is that others feel left behind when you kind of stagnantly choose favorites and then highlight them visibly. It can drive disengagement and a perception of mistreatment, or it can create an overly competitive environment and drive really cutthroat behavior, both of which have risks in an organization.”
Saying some people are better than others limits the possibility of great ideas coming from any employee. Treat your team well, and they will build your company.
Photo courtesy of Airbnb
