The Loyalty Imbalance

Loyalty, according to the fine folks at Merriam-Webster, means “unswerving in allegiance,” such as “faithful to a cause, ideal, custom, institution, or product.” It evokes the concept of strongly attaching to someone or something and devoting your time, life, or skills to it. In the positive, it connotes a commitment to a person, thing, or business that holds steady in the ever-changing winds of life. In the negative, it can evoke the concept of a feudal serf, bound to the land or a person forever in exchange for protection or land.

So which is the more likely outcome—positive or negative—when it comes to business loyalty? Staying loyal to a brand and product even when the world changes around you (for example, I will not give up my small iPhone SE with a haptic fingerprint button for a giant monster of a phone that uses my face as a sign-in no matter how much you tell me that it’s better) can be both a great thing for the company that makes that product—and that is the end goal of most producers—to get us, as consumers, to stay loyal to their brand, their services, and their products even when other competitors come to play in the same arena, and also a negative thing (as is the case of me and Apple) when they want you to stay loyal to the brand, but upgrade the product over and over again to continue the revenue cycle.

When we translate the concept of loyalty to the internal operational workings of our company, there are also good things (this thing is working—keep going!!) and warning signs to heed. When we apply that concept to our products and services, we can often become entrenched in the ways of “how we’ve always done things” even when the world has changed around us and the product or service could be improved to match those changes. What got us here doesn’t always lead us forward and stagnation often occurs when we stay loyal to ideas over staying curious and in the mindset of continuous improvement.

And further still, when we apply the concept of loyalty to the people side of the business, the scales of positive and negative tip quickly to the negative and stay there. When a CEO says to me: “I expect loyalty from my employees,” the internal business mapping that I’m doing in my brain during the conversation places a flag right on that statement and the inevitable follow up questions are triggered: “How do you understand loyalty? What is your expectation around how your employees show loyalty to you and/or your company? How are you showing them loyalty in exchange? How else can you think about your relationship with your employees?” Because the truth of the matter is, the power imbalance around people-related loyalty is often under-considered by the employer, and ultimately favors the employer, so to expect unwavering loyalty from your employees is ultimately an unfair ask.

Companies ask their employees for time, skills, experience, and attention, and yet, in the matter of minutes or hours, they will cut the same employee’s hours or position to meet a financial metric for shareholders or investors. The loyalty is often completely one-sided, and not to the employee’s favor. Let’s be clear: employees generally believe in the work they are doing, and they want to be loyal to their employers, and reap the benefits from consistent employment and career-advancing opportunities from being known. And generally, employers want to do right by their employees and are not making big decisions about positions and people lightly. But more often than not, employees become pawns in the feudal game, and the promise of protection, thriving, and bounty disappears in a quick minute when the company decides it does.

(Of course, there are good leaders who have to make hard choices in tough economies, like this one, about reductions-in-force and separations and reduced hours, and it can be personally and professionally painful to have to make those decisions out of our own loyalty to our teams and people. But the fact that macro conditions are affecting the business and forcing hard decisions doesn’t negate the fact that the micro impact of those decisions are that the power imbalance remains strongly in the hand of the business, not the employee.)

So loyalty, while often expected unreservedly, should be a cautious ask in every business case, especially when it comes to the employee/employer relationship. It is always in the best interest of the employee to temper their loyalty to the company, and do what is best for them personally, because the business will always do what is best for the business. Even when our business relationships and commitments are personal, and the relationships and the love for your work and your company are real, it’s business, and it’s important to remember that on all sides. Tom Hanks’ character Joe Fox says in the movie “You’ve Got Mail,”: “it’s not personal, it’s business.” Meg Ryan’s character Kathleen Kelly retorts: “All that means is it wasn’t personal to you. It was personal to me. It was personal to a lot of people.” And therein lies the problem. Sometimes, a business relationship and its expectations can be both business and personal, especially as a startup or small business with a small team. But as a company founder, owner, or leader—don’t ask for an outsized expectation of loyalty and personal commitment from your employees or teams when you and your business can’t provide it in return, because if and when the power imbalance around loyalty rears its head, it can become very personal, and very messy, very quickly.

It is always worthwhile for good business owners, founders, and leaders to recognize this fact and understand employee business loyalty for what it can be in its most positive state—a conscious choice for the employee to align themselves, their values, and their skills with this company’s products, offerings, and success—and recognize that may change over time for people and they may choose to move on, and that’s ok, the business can continue to succeed and grow in new directions with new people and ideas on board, and that is often what good businesses need to continue to grow and adapt.

Being a good leader means wanting the best for your people, wherever and whenever that may be—even outside of your company—while also holding your responsibilities to the business as your priority, not theirs. Be careful to hold the concept of people and business loyalty loosely and choose gratitude for those who are in the trenches with you now. Gratitude is a healthier place to start, and it will help you to be in the best place to make better business decisions, while enjoying the shared contributions of all who choose to join you for this moment in time.