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The same arrangement for everyone. The reasoning is understandable: common practices create clarity and protect against arbitrary decisions. Yet the same arrangement can require very different amounts of effort from different people.
Equal opportunity on paper does not always mean an equal opportunity to participate. That difference deserves attention before the rule itself is taken as proof that something works.
Understand the situation while respecting privacy
Someone may need information in advance to prepare. Another person may have responsibilities that affect their availability. Not everything needs to become public for the conditions of participation to be discussed properly.
A useful question is what would make participation possible and which parts of the shared practice are genuinely necessary. Attention then turns to the arrangement, without requiring a person to explain their entire private life.
Flexibility also needs understandable reasons. If exceptions are arbitrary or their consequences always fall on the same people, fairness does not improve.
Who makes the arrangement work?
Quiet accommodation deserves attention too. Who always changes their schedule? Whose preference is heard first? Has someone’s flexibility become so familiar that nobody notices it?
For me, these are important leadership questions. A workable practice is more than one that nobody complains about. Its reasons and effects need to withstand scrutiny.
Not every preference can be accommodated. Decisions can still be attentive, consistent and openly explained.
Sometimes fairness means keeping a shared rule; sometimes it means changing it. What matters is understanding the position of those for whom the familiar arrangement was never easy.
