Is Your Process Fair?

A self-audit for leaders who hold high standards

Most accountability conversations fail before they start. The feedback was reasonable and the standard was legitimate, but something still broke in the relationship afterward.

What’s usually missing is the structural fairness around the process: whether the rules were clear and applied consistently, and whether the person had a real chance to raise questions before the decision was final.

Organizational researchers call this procedural justice. It’s one dimension of a broader organizational fairness framework, and it’s the dimension leaders most often skip because it feels administrative rather than relational.

This self-audit takes about five minutes. While it won’t tell you whether your standard is right, it will help you see whether your process gives the person a real chance to meet it.

Procedural fairness is one of three fairness dimensions that shape how accountability lands. If you want to go deeper on the other two, or explore how to build fairness into your leadership practice more broadly, talking with me about working together is a good next step.