loyalty in business TEAMS is real
I wanted to revisit the topic of loyalty in the workplace. A few days ago, I posted an extended discussion of how loyalty between a company and its employees is fiction. While I stand behind everything I said, I think I gave the impression that I was taking companies to task for not showing loyalty to employees. On the contrary, I was simply observing that companies have a different set of priorities than employees do, and that an employment relationship is simply a mutually-beneficial business transaction that allows both the company and the employee to pursue their priorities. Expecting loyalty out of that arrangement is just setting yourself up for drama later. And I don’t know about you, but I hate drama.
While we’re working for these faceless “companies,” however, we’re working with real people, and establishing relationships that naturally have an emotional component. Loyalty in that context is critically important to the success of not only the team, but of the future careers of everyone on that team.
But Tiff, you may be asking, aren’t you really just splitting hairs here? After all, a company is made up of people, and you’re trying to tell us that companies don’t have to be loyal but the people in them do? What’s that about?
I don’t think I’m splitting hairs at all- I think I’m making a useful distinction. Let’s think about what this loyalty should actually look like.
What do we expect from our team members? We want our team members to share in the teams successes and failures as a team, rather than trying to grab credit for themselves or point the finger at others for their failures to make themselves look good in front of the higher-ups. We expect that internal conflicts will be handled and resolved will be handled from within.
What do we expect from our managers? We want managers who will talk about our successes up the chain and ensure that their managers are aware of our contributions. We want managers who will support us in our professional development, even if that means that they have to lose a valuable team member to another department. We need managers who will stand between us and their bosses and, keep as much of that stupid BS that happens up the chain (and let’s be honest, it happens everywhere) out of our way as they can so that we can be freed up to accomplish things.
What do we expect from our subordinates? We want our team members to strive to do their best work. We want them to have enthusiasm for their projects. We want them to share their creative ideas for how to elevate the way we do business. We also want them to be honest with us when they aren’t entirely satisfied so that we aren’t caught by surprise when they leave.
In short, loyalty in teams comes down to not much more than recognizing the other party’s priorities (remember those differing priorities we talked about?) and cooperatnig as much as possible on them.
But that’s a double-edged sword. Sometimes, loyalty to your boss means recognizing that she has to make difficult choices, and choosing not to take them personally. When layoffs need to happen, managers are often asked to make the choice about which of their team members have to be let go. In that situation, the best kind of loyalty you can have to your manager is to not make it about you. That goes both ways- while it’s true that most employees quit because of bad bosses rather than bad jobs, if you’ve been a good and loyal manager and someone quits to pursue another opportunity that fits their priorities better, don’t make it about you.
So, perhaps what I’m really trying to say in all this is that loyalty doesn’t mean you get to keep your job at all costs. Maybe loyalty just consists of recognizing that everyone priorities they need to respect, cooperating so that everyone can meet their goals as much as possible, and not being a drama queen about it when those priorities come into conflict.
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February 12th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
In short, loyalty in teams comes down to not much more than recognizing the other party’s priorities (remember those differing priorities we talked about?) and cooperatnig as much as possible on them.
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I think that’s a good summary and would add your advice about growing and enhancing your professional “network” from the original article. Commit yourself to the company and the success of the “many” until such time as your “personal” long-term success is no longer where you feel it should be. At that point, re-assess and make necessary changes while remaining cognizant of the fact that everyone around you is attempting to do the same thing to some degree or another. It’s a fine and often-blurry line, but it exists and you’ll see it if you’re paying attention.
February 19th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
I was just reading something the other day that pointed out the difference between loyalty and longevity. Basically the woman interviewed was pointing out that she can be somewhere for a short time and as long as she does a good job and provides the promised service (particularly in the case of temporaries or contractors) she considers herself a loyal employee - and better than someone who stays for twenty years while stealing pens and playing solitaire all day. I think it’s worth thinking about redefining the prior assumption of a connection between loyalty and time.