Confused Loyalty

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What It’s About: Every leader has a political sense. That’s reality. Almost everyone reports to someone, and to maintain or advance, this includes convincing higher ups that they’re doing well overall. If not, their role is eventually at risk and hence, we recognize behavior that is known as “managing up.” This involves helping one's boss come to a positive assessment. However, when leaders become too focused on looking good, they can end up with a risk averse/fixed mindset. Even worse, they often overplay loyalty and evaluate the behavior of those around them in terms of whether they help them “look good” or not.

So What?: When “looking good” becomes the underlying motive for leaders, the message to direct reports often includes “not rocking the boat.” Yet in the current, turbulent, hyper competitive, and disruptive environment confronting nearly all commercial and non profit organizations, we need more boat rockers. Too often, I hear explanations for termination that include comments like: “She was making changes too fast, “he was always challenging the status quo,” “she wasn’t very agreeable, “he and I saw things differently,” etc. When hear this, my B.S. antenna fires up.

Leaders who want so-called “loyal” direct reports, who are simply or blindly “yes people,” “order takers,” and politicians, are doing themselves and their organizations a disservice. I’m not talking about situations where, after a healthy debate, tough decisions are made, and solidarity is needed. That’s necessary and important. Too often however, the healthy debate is missing and people are expected to simply “get on board.”

Now What?: Leaders! Please re-evaluate your definition of loyalty to include respectful disagreement and fierce debate. If everyone simply follows a leader because the personal risk is too great to explore an alternative view, then bad things will happen and/or new opportunities will be missed. If you think a leader is moving too fast and being too disruptive, be sure that it’s not you who is too slow and perhaps not courageous to reinvent the status quo. I’m not talking about foolhardy risk. However, every organization needs those leaders that are disruptive. If not, that disruption might come from outside the organization and materially discount value. And that is definitely not a good look! Some historians will likely determine that the disrupted organization was too insular, too ego driven and had a distorted view of loyalty!

Too loyal,

Lorne

One Millennial View: Remember when one of your favorite actors and/or musicians made a movie or record that was shockingly bad? It’s likely they’ve paid their entourage/team to consistently “yes” them to a point where their work suffers. Worse, they’ll pay to be shielded from the criticism, so the bad streak continues. If anything, we should want to buy truthful feedback, not positive affirmation.

- Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Confused Loyalty

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