Loyalty

“Loyalty develops trustworthiness.”

      A leader is loyal to the people that are committed to the success of the organization. If you are not loyal to your colleagues, then don’t expect anyone to be loyal to you. They will be loyal to something or someone else. A lack of loyalty promotes self-servant leadership rather than servant leadership.

      It probably seems like a silly analogy for loyalty and leadership, but when you walk into your house after a long day, who runs up to you first? Usually, you can depend on your dog to be excited and to greet you. Your dog models an easy example of unconditional love. He or she will love you no matter the circumstance.

      Think of love and leadership as verbs instead of feelings and nouns. From that paradigm, you will know when and how to express loyalty to develop trust that will lead to trustworthiness. Self-serving environments constrain relationships and success. Loyalty can be one of the conduits to leadership.

      If you list the words associated with love and leadership, you will find many similar associations. These connections will also be related to loyalty. Unconditional love and leadership promote service to your organization and its members.

      As an educator, your loyalty starts with the students in the classroom. Every decision you make has to be for the “good of the kids.” When your decisions are not in the best interest of the kids, you’ll know, and eventually the people around you will know.         

      A group of students told me one of the great attributes of leadership was loyalty. If you think they don’t notice, think again. The same group of students defined loyalty as educators who supported them.

      During our discussion, they verbalized why they thought a particular teacher was so popular. In addition to his teaching strategies, they agreed that the teacher often stood up for them individually and as a group. They continued to say that his loyalty to them compelled their loyalty to him and each other.

      Even if you disagree with someone, let them know why then move on. Remain loyal to the vision and mission of your organization by not talking about someone in their absence. Most likely, that person will remain loyal to your school or organization. If they do not, they will not be part of your organization for long. Self-serving people become victims of ineptitude and karma.

      Countless times when I thought I had nothing left to give, someone spent a brief minute to let me know that loyalty mattered. If it was important to them, then it must have mattered to people I never heard from, too. The following observation is from a university student that was an outsider to our organization but she was able to listen and connect to the presentation about our school that included a commitment of loyalty to all stakeholders.

     “Recently, I attended a presentation on School Climate and Culture: From Start to Finish. During the presentation, we discussed many useful things to incorporate into a school environment. One of the most important things that I took away was the existence of ‘staffulty’ in a school. This idea encompasses both staff, for example custodians, and faculty, for example, a teacher, as one cohesive team. No one is more or less important. This cohesive team is fundamental to the success of not only a school, but also the youth that are being educated. In addition to the concept of ‘staffulty,’ I found that the importance of sharing with students to think outside of the lines that society puts us in is fundamental to their educational growth. Ideas often go unshared because students feel restricted to the lines, but as educators it is important to push students to their full potential even if their ideas don’t necessarily fit with the norm.”

Things to think about:

Leadership Tip from My Dogs: Loyalty is an essential quality of a leader but do not let it blind you.