The New Loyalty: Loyal to Number One

Every so often the word loyal crops up in terms of describing someone. Loyalty is one of those almost mythical terms that comes to the surface, either in our own head or by someone who has probably not given much thought as to what it really means. You have heard... we honor loyalty, it is good to be loyal, or he or she is a loyal person. Let us say, because the positive connotation of the term loyalty is considered to be good when describing someone, and we all like nice characteristics attributed to us, that we are all loyal.

Take a look for a moment at you, your employer and loyalty. This is not a company / employer bashing session, but more of a discussion that can lead to a liberating positive outcome for many job loyalists. First off, we should define our terms. Loyalty, so we can get out of our head the image of Don Corleone followers, is really trustworthiness, constancy, reliability, dependability, etc. The problem is that the term often takes on a meaning of its own in an employer / employee relationship. I guess in terms of The Don, yes, you want loyal subjects who are not going to put you in jail for life. Most of us though are not breaking laws in our occupation so we really do not have these same types of fears to deal with. What we do have though, probably equally as powerful, is the fear of losing our job and our livelihood, so we wear the loyalty badge because that just might help us remain where we are. This is where we go wrong with loyalty. Much like people have left the mob for good reasons, you can leave your employer for good reasons, such as bettering yourself.
Who / what are we loyal to? Most of the time in an employer and employee relationship, we are not so much thinking that we are loyal to a company, or entity, but loyal to someone at the company such as a manager or leader. Ultimately, what does being loyal to a company name, building, product, etc. really get us anyway, not much. What we really care about is the people in the company and what they think of us in terms of being loyal. If someone is using the term loyal to mean trustworthy or dependable, great, but when the talk of loyalty strolls down the, you should never leave this company or explore outside openings road, that is when the problem occurs.

You may say that the corporate loyalty mentality is a relic of the past, for some yes, but for many it is still the norm. First off, be very suspect of someone at a company who talks company loyalty or plays the loyalty card. It will be brought up again later, but you are trading your services, whether physical or mental, to a company in exchange for payment. That is it. It is a means to end. If someone suggests that you need to be loyal for the sake of staying with a company, you need to consider what this person is telling you. Are they telling you that you should sacrifice something, anything, for the sake of a company? You may be surprised to know, but there are forward thinking companies who actually encourage people to look for other opportunities because they don't want to stifle a person's growth if they are not providing it.

Consider too that when loyalty is brought up at company, is it usually being used as a method to apply fear and guilt? After all, if someone can easily manipulate an employee to stay with the company by using loyalty to apply some guilt and fear, well then this person might not have to work harder doing your job and finding your replacement when you leave. If they are playing "the company really needs you" card, well you have heard it before, everyone is replaceable. Ask yourself the next time you hear someone question your loyalty, or someone else’s loyalty, why did they really bring it up? Hopefully, it is for the right reasons, such as being reliable and trustworthy. Be aware though, the loyalty card is basically a way to use guilt to accomplish a goal. It can cause or influence people to stay in a situation for the sole fact that they want to be considered loyal, or people use being loyal as an excuse not to do anything with their career. Guilt is a highly destructive negative emotion. It is easy to say, but you should never allow guilt to creep into your thinking, and you surely should never allow someone to make you feel guilty. If someone tries to use guilt on you, call them out on it. Are you trying to make me feel guilty?

The point of this is to make sure you never allow loyalty to get in the way in your life and career. Be loyal to yourself and your family, but in terms of staying with an employer for every, for the sake of being "loyal", is irresponsible. You work for you. You need to place that loyalty above any employer. Employers may talk loyalty during the good times, but how quickly this changes when times get tough. I do not know of too many companies who will make the decision to forgo profits, lose money, not expand, etc. in order to remain loyal to an employee. You have heard the terms, "it's business". Yes it is, and you are in business as well. You work for you as a self-employed businessman.

Being loyal, and passing up opportunities in life to progress and better you and your family for any particular company is negligent. Be loyal (trustworthy, reliable, dependable), but do not pledge your loyalty to a person or company at the expense of progress and growth. Do not hide behind or use loyalty as an excuse as to why you have not taken action. That is the worst scenario. Hopefully, we can put the old style loyalty mentality behind us. We all work for ourselves. You need to create value that the marketplace will pay a premium for. The top people in any field, do not think about loyalty. They don't have to. The top people can go to work at any other company in their industry whenever they choose. Recession, depression, or whatever, the top people will always have a great job. This is why getting into the top 20% in your field should be the goal.