In business and life we want things to be FAIR. Many contracts are based on the fairness of both parties but in actual
Make it Fair
fact they are anything but fair. One side seems to hold the “power”.
When we buy something and we want to be treated fairly. We deal with a service person and we want their service to match their promise. In many countries there are laws around the fair treatment, keeping promises on quality and quantity.
But think of it, when you are presenting yourself to a prospect or in writing are you going to tell that person your faults and your weaknesses?
Or are you going to represent yourself in the best possible light?
Advertising tells you only the positive aspects of a product or service. Why would anyone promote the negative aspects of their product except maybe a mortician who says “you only have to die” to experience the empathy of our service”.
You believe that people will be fair to you depending on how much you trust them.
We have to start off by understanding that fairness relates to dignity and rights. Fairness occurs when both sides are respected and their rights preserved.
And that is PERSONAL and also assumes that one party knows how the other person views their rights.
And that is where the challenge comes for each business owner.
There are 3 simple ways to deal with any sense of ”unfairness”
- Realize that nothing is fair, it is a subjective decision and feeling. Life is unfair to everyone because it is perception.
- Realize that fairness is personal and therefore only you know what is fair for you.
- Realize that unless you ask the other party specifically, you are only assuming that the other person thinks something is fair.
Over and over again, people judge others by their own values. They deliver the level of service they think they can get away with.
And often that level of service may be less than what they would accept for themselves in a similar situation.
If you want to be fair, then find out how others want to be treated and what they think is fair. A BIG challenge as it does vary from one person to the next.
Another alternative is to to your best and know that no matter how good you are, you will never please all of the people all of the time.
In business as in life, you can only ever do your best and keep your word. You can accept responsibility for your actions but how the other party feels about your treatment is beyond your control.
Is that fair? Is that good? Is that right? Please tell me what you think in the comment box below.
Roberta
Passionate, Purposeful Presenter
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You are reminding me of childhood, when my friend’s father said “Life isn’t fair.” I suppose fairness in business is when both partners feel comfortable with the agreed upon game plan.
“unless you ask the other party specifically” – always good to be specific, as you soon. Sometimes one doesn’t know what to specify, however, until you make mistakes. Yeah, life is not fair.
Leora recently posted..Turn a Menu into a Site Map with WordPress
As long as we keep in mind Leora that we can change things by being clear it should be less unfair to the parties concerned but someone sometime will think things are unfair. Its called life.
Twitter: Adjuvancy
May 8, 2012
Fairness is an issue- and you are right that perceptions taint the issue. But, there is a difference between fairness and value. If one offers a product for $ 10, for which all competitors charge $12, but offers less service- the offer is still fair. But, given the need for service of not, may be of good or poor value. If one offers a product for $ 10 because it is made in China with near slave labor conditions and it’s competitors offer a product for $ 15, the $ 10 product may have “value” but is certainly not fair.
It’s the question of the definition of the word.
(And, that’s even before one addresses “fair and balanced news”- a false statement among many.)
Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. recently posted..Follow Me
Good points Roy. One of the challenges I find with new business owners is that they want things to be fair but that very word has so many challenges when we look at what they mean about fair.
We have a number of laws that talk about fair and good faith but these terms are so subjective that they make it really difficult for people unless they get the absolute clarity of meaning of those words for both sides of the negotiation
Over deliver is the name if the game. If you over deliver, you will have very few unhappy customers.
Martha Giffen recently posted..Twitter, American Idol, and YOU!
Agree over deliver is important Martha but that works on value rather than fairness and many business owners want people to be fair to them but that fair creates a huge number of challenges. We want to be treated fairly but everyone has a different opinion of what is fair. And that does sometimes reflect back on value or worth of what we receive. Business is more than just the exchange with clients, it is also about being a part of the bigger world, the community and when dealing with governments, legal compliances etc, we have people start screaming “it’s not fair”
Twitter: millercathy
May 8, 2012
Excellent post, Roberta. It is in the eye of the beholder and another thing I latch onto (in both my personal and professional life) is to get away from judging others and recognizing it’s not right or wrong – just different.
Cathy Miller recently posted..Yes, YOU Can Create a Professional Analysis Report
So true Cathy. Judgement is the key and things are different but we get taught to think of things as right or wrong – and that really varies person to person. And personally I love the difference.
Why would anyone promote the negative aspects of their product except maybe a mortician who says “you only have to die” to experience the empathy of our service”.
This is so funny. Of course fairness is subjective. It can’t be otherwise. Some people go to the store expecting to be made over and others go to the same store and want to be left alone. We are not mindreaders or even especially adept at reading body language in cases like this. How much harder when we are working with others online? I think your suggestion to do the best we can rather than as little as we can get away with is a good start. Thanks, Roberta.
Ann recently posted..In-Home Care and Long-Term Care Overview
So true Ann and because we know that no one would do that so it means that we have to trust that in the end we will be treated well and that providing we get clarity on what we are receiving, we will receive something we can value. Measuring satisfaction and dissatisfaction with service and products often comes with a real challenge as again it is so subjective. Thanks for commenting