Bad Managers Demand Loyalty

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The concept of loyalty is much in discussion these days. Our commander-in-chief seems to place a high value on this feudal era pledge to serve one’s patron without question. It puzzled former FBI Director James Comey, and it should puzzle you. It is essentially an atavistic concept, reflective of a time when one swore fealty unto death to an individual of high station. A sworn bond compelled by a powerful superior of an inferior or subordinate, to follow the leader’s fortunes even into questionable ethical, legal or otherwise treacherous territory. If it were easy, safe, reasonable or logical, why would anyone have to demand it?

Why, in the modern era of human resource departments, human rights principles, ethical scrutiny and legal protections, would a reasonable person demand loyalty of a subordinate? Isn’t it similar to demanding another person love you? What does it even mean? Is it binding? Contractual? Or is it merely an emotional hook based in a desire to manipulate or intimidate another person into silence or compliance? Isn’t it a tactic to enlist a subordinate in complicit behavior and essentially surrender independent thought? To substitute the boss’s judgment for your own?

I have long been suspicious of workplace loyalty, and pondered its utility and appropriateness in managing teams. I have often heard managers espouse their belief in employee loyalty, and how high it ranks in their estimation when hiring and promoting. These managers have something else in common: they were all managers who put personal gain and convenience above all else. They tended to be tactical, not strategic; fearful of dialogue and participation; confrontational when challenged; retrograde in technique; highly manipulative in relationships and autocratic in managing others. They were bad managers.

I often touched on this subject in staff meetings, which I used as a professional development platform in which paradigms of managerial style, conduct and example were analyzed for effectiveness and success. In these discussions, I shared my deep suspicion of loyalty as a workplace value. I made sure staff understood that I did not require or desire their loyalty to me. I didn’t believe in it. I would tell them to be loyal to the organization, and to be loyal to the customer. If they did these things, especially the latter, then no further support, defense or fealty would be necessary.

The demand for loyalty reeks of manipulation and the implication that a value system tuned to the welfare of the leader is what is really in play. It seems to be a commitment to support an individual over the values of an organization, a customer, or what is simply right and obvious. It implies conflict of these things, and internecine intrigue within the workplace.

These matters came to my attention many years ago when my employees, in some cases, became too loyal. It was gratifying that they supported my work philosophies, my passion for serving customers, and my attempts at participatory management. But when an employee put herself at risk by misleading my boss after I had asked staff to keep an issue confidential, I knew there was a problem. I had not intended anyone to lie, or to slavishly follow my direction at their own peril. This makes no sense at all. This was when I started making it clear that staff’s loyalty was not to me, but to the organization’s values, and most importantly, the customer.

Through the years I heard stories from staff at my various properties about how managers had attempted to manipulate them with plays on their emotions, asking for loyalty. Sometimes people would be asked to sacrifice their best personal decision in support of the manager’s goals. Don’t compete for that opportunity, don’t leave the company for higher pay, don’t pursue that development path, but put these plans on hold and continue to serve me. This is reprehensible and wholly inappropriate, and also very common. When a manager is using you as a stepping stone, and calling it loyalty, it’s time to see it for what it is.

If your manager is talking about loyalty, a personal loyalty, as fealty to him or her, it’s time to think about your employment and what you may be getting yourself into. Start taking notes, examining ethics, and thinking about a visit to HR. Only bad managers demand loyalty.

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