What does loyalty mean in the workplace?

This week has been monumental for sports fans. Nadal won his 20th, equaling Federer, LeBron James got Lakers to set a record equaling the Celtics.

On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings have seen their nadir this IPL season and in the world of soccer, ManU has been flattering to deceive since Sir Alex Ferguson.

Irrespective of winning and losing and irrespective of individual or team sports, each of the names and clubs mentioned above have their loyal fan base. A true fan of the club would consider it her duty and pride to stick to the club when it’s losing and frown upon a bandwagon fan who’d support the club only during good times. 

It’s no wonder, sports is a common icebreaker in business and sales discussions across the world. Loyalty to a particular sports person or a club gives the feeling of belonging to the same tribe. 

All this made me wonder, what does loyalty mean in today’s workplace? 

Here’re my two cents:

Loyalty to values 

Individuals tend to stay true to their values. If there’s a conflict in the values that an employee believes in and those that are inherent to an Organization, it would not really be a match made in heaven. Sooner or later, the honeymoon would segway into troubled waters. 

Loyalty to purpose 

Our everyday is powered by 'the purposes' that drive each of us. An individual’s mission statement, very often, cannot be at loggerheads with that of an organization, however, an organization could choose to enable or be indifferent to an individual’s mission in life. 

Especially for individuals who have a loyalty to their own purpose, indifference from their employer could be a deal breaker.

Loyalty to career goals 

While purpose is broader, long term and usually singular, goals are specific, relatively short term and often multiple. 

A TedEx speaker’s purpose could be to positively impact the lives of those in depression and the same person could have career goals to author a book, become the most popular speaker and the highest paid social influencer, etc., 

Organizations that can help an individual retain, evolve and achieve their career goals, usually gain a longer tenure from such individuals. 

• So, what should the individual do?

To find and leverage the right organizations, an individual needs to be consistent and loyal to their values, purposes and for a considerable time to their goals. 

Constantly changing values and purposes (aka disloyally to self values and purposes) and quick changes to career goals, will not only result in ambiguity for the individual but also expectation vs reality mismatch in the employer-employee engagement. 

• And the employer?

By extension, at the time of hiring, it becomes important to understand an individual’s level of clarity and loyalty to their own value system, Purpose and short/ long term career goals and then evaluate how that fits with the Organization or how the Organization can enable the journey to those, for that individual. 

American bald eagles are extremely loyal to their partners. While they get together through natural selection, every season the partners fly back to the same nest and the joint creation and expansion of the nest every year strengthens their relationship. Alignment in purpose, makes commitment fun, not arduous. When we are on a journey to create something together, loyalty is a given.

Match point : In my opinion, both Messi and Ronaldo are examples of loyalty and commitment. Messi has been loyal to one club and Ronaldo has shown a different, not-so-obvious type of loyalty - loyalty to surviving and excelling consistently at the face of change.