LOYALTY
IS DEAD. LONG LIVE LOYALTY! Condensed
from her book, "This Isn't the Company I Joined" (new
edition due January 2004). With traditional loyalty, everyone knew the rules: Management gave employees a sense of "family," of job security. Even if "old Joe" wasn't pulling his fair share, he could expect the company to "take care" of him by allowing him to stay in his current position or by finding him another job within the organization. In exchange, workers gave up the right to question authority, to criticize the company, or to do their jobs in any but the "one right way" approved by the organization. They wore the company uniform, used the company product or service, and supported the organization's position on community matters. Orders were handed down the bureaucratic chain of command, to be followed precisely, and then released to the next level. This traditional view of loyalty no longer applies. Changes in the business world and in the work force require a different approach. Workers can no longer expect lifetime, or long-term, employment. Nor can they expect stability. Change has become a fact of corporate life to be accepted and dealt with. Employers, on the other hand, are encountering a far more skeptical work force, with a different set of expectations and demands. Employees today no longer believe that top management will guide their career progression. Workers are creating their own career paths, and, in most cases, consider job-hopping a normal route to professional success. Today's employees are educated to expect that they may work for as many as twenty different companies - in perhaps four or five different careers - over the course of their professional lives. Yet opportunities abound for organizations that take the initiative in creating compelling and realistic guidelines for mutual loyalty in the workplace. But this requires a new definition of corporate loyalty and new expectations on the part of workers and leaders. The death of old traditional loyalty opens opportunities for a new, enlightened form of loyalty based on shared values and goals, and mutual caring and respect. Organizations can benefit by tapping into the commitment of their workers. Employees yearn to feel emotionally connected to their work. It is the right time to address these mutual needs and to redefine loyalty in ways that will serve both. THE TWO DIMENSIONS OF LOYALTY Loyalty has two dimensions: the internal or emotional level and the external, behavioral aspect. Internally, loyalty is a feeling of bonding, mutuality, affiliation, or trust. Various dictionaries define loyalty a "true, constant, or steadfast in allegiance." One definition is "faithful to a person, ideal, custom obligation, duty or organization." Another definition is "devoted attachment and affection." For our purposes, the key to defining loyalty starts here: Loyalty is first of all an emotion that manifests internally as caring and concern for another person or entity. Loyalty is basic to our nature as human beings - a potent force that can be brought forth for the good of all. Externally, loyalty may manifest itself in a variety of ways. Since emotions are obviously invisible, it is through the behavioral dimension that we evaluate another's loyalty to us. In organizations we often have expectations of loyalty behavior that are implied rather than explicit. The "loyalty compact" is an implied set of mutual expectations regarding the manifestations of loyalty by both the organization and the work force. These behaviors have changed on both sides, but many of us continue to judge loyalty by old, outdated standards. It is time for the old standards to be questioned, and for the loyalty contract to be stated openly to that employees and management can make enlightened commitments.
In progressive organizations across the country, a new kind of relationship grounded in mutual trust and respect is emerging between employers and employees. This new compact is developed out of realistic expectations on both sides. It is a path that reflects the new reality for business and society in a global market, as it attempts to align the interests of the organization with those of its employees, to share both the risks and rewards of doing business. As leaner companies rely on fewer employees to shoulder more of the work, the developing relationship between company and worker is changing from paternalism to partnership: Companies owe it to their work force to aggressively pursue new ideas, products, services, markets, and customers. Employees expect to be treated fairly, to develop professionally, and to have meaningful, challenging work. In return, employees owe the organization their willingness to participate in business growth, idea development, customer service, and organizational transformation. Balancing the employee-employer compact is not a matter of adding more items to one side of the balance sheet or eliminating some from the other side. Increasingly, it is a matter of finding items that are of value to both the employer and the employee. Robert Haas, CEO of Levi Strauss has said, "We are at the center of a seamless web of mutual responsibility and collaboration. . . a seamless partnership, with interrelationships and mutual commitments." An example of how one company approached the new compact is Royal Bank of Canada. RBC took a 93-person cross-section of their work force off site for a weeklong conference to create the basis for their changing employee-employer relationship. The group drafted this outline of the new understanding to be presented to all employees: "If you buy into the organization's values and goals, contribute energy and ideas, grow and develop personally, and take care of our customers -- then together we will create a good work environment, provide all the challenge you can handle, help you develop new skills and broaden your experience, and offer support and guidance for career and professional growth. And, you'll be a part of a company setting the pace in its industry; you will enjoy working here, manage the pressure, and see how the pieces fit together."
Employee
provides In our post-industrial world it is not capital assets that will determine the success of an organization, but rather the intensity of motivation of its employees to continually change and improve to meet or set the next standard. Employees who are emotionally involved with the organization are far more productive than those who have emotionally withdrawn. Companies need loyal employees who are enlightened and willing to participate in a vital, competitive business environment. Employees need loyal employers. In an environment of mutual commitment, employees gain honest communication from management, challenging and empowering work responsibilities, recognition and appreciation for their efforts, personal/professional development opportunities, and equitable treatment. In addition to these tangible benefits, employees want to commit to companies because doing so satisfies a powerful, and basic, human need to connect with and contribute to something significant.
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