Loyalty in front of the face is good. But, loyalty behind the back is what matters.

Money, social status and rank have become more important to obtain in order to be considered successful and reputable.

Expecting your significant other to be loyal in a relationship has become but a mere dream.

Today, we all occasionally make our peace with having to sacrifice our emotions for something more materialistic and less obtainable.

Few things hurt more than a betrayal of loyalty. When it happens, it usually seems to catch us by surprise. And it can be painful and destabilizing, both for individuals and for organizations.

That’s because loyalty is inextricably linked to trust.

At the same time, we regularly see counterfeit forms of loyalty.

How many organizational cultures are plagued by a false standard of loyalty, one that enables all sorts of misconduct and incompetence?

How many personal relationships are characterized by sinful patterns of manipulation and even abuse, but propped up by a distorted definition of loyalty??

In our day, defining and understanding loyalty can seem to be especially challenging. It’s sometimes difficult to identify, but we certainly know when it’s broken.

Blind Loyalty Is Destructive

Unfortunately, far too many organizations cloak all sorts of dysfunctional dynamics under the guise of loyalty, demanding that stakeholders turn a blind eye to reality. Sometimes this is induced by a cult of personality, an organizational culture that so idolizes the senior leader that no one is permitted to actually question things.

In these organizations, propaganda and legend are exchanged for the truth. Anyone who dares criticize the actions or decisions of the most senior leader is quickly ostracized for “disloyalty” or even driven out of the organization. This can certainly happen in the corporate world, but churches and non-profit organizations are not immune.

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Thank you?...The same is true in our personal relationships. Friendships won’t make it without loyalty. But blind loyalty is no true loyalty at all. In fact, a friend who offers up blind loyalty is not offering a gift, but a poison pill.

We all need friends who will stand with us, especially when the chips are down and few others will. But those true friends never cease to tell us the truth, even when it stings.

And they tell it to our face, not behind our backs. That’s because loyalty is all about trust and, just as importantly, it means that one person has so committed themselves to our wellbeing and flourishing that they will do whatever it takes to advance our good.?

That’s a big reason why a betrayal of loyalty is so painful. When team members are sacrificed for political expediency, public relations damage control, or an aversion to conflict, it is deeply traumatic. Such betrayals not only injure the persons involved but leave a dent on the entire organization. Loyalty requires trust as its currency. When loyalty is betrayed, trust disappears with it.?

Dysfunctional organizations traffic in counterfeit loyalty, demanding that stakeholders look the other way or suppress accountability. Some of the most egregious examples of this happen in the corporate world, when companies try to skirt compliance with legal regulations or ethical standards and then bully employees into silence, all in the name of “loyalty.”

?Regrettably, these dynamics also show up in churches and ministries. Whether in covering up abusive behavior by a key leader or in suppressing accountability in financial matters, there can be real pressure to enable the status quo by appealing to loyalty.

But loyalty that is detached from truth is no loyalty at all. And mark my words, the leaders who demand this kind of false loyalty are always the first ones to throw their own employees under the proverbial bus if it is in their own interest. In contrast, true loyalty goes both ways.

Do you want to add a word or two?....

Ordered Loyalty is Essential

How does your business rate on the customer loyalty?scale?

And, how important do you think customer service is to your success at building customer loyalty?

Organizations cannot flourish without genuine loyalty, but neither can personal relationships. This demands what we might call an ordered loyalty.

Most of our breakdowns and distortions of loyalty come from disordered loyalty.?

In a general sense, loyalty is only genuine when it is truly virtuous. If untethered from the good, the true, and the beautiful, it ceases to be true loyalty and becomes something altogether different.

If you think of a place that you give your business to on a regular basis – a favourite haunt??or other service provider, like a restaurant, gym, grocery store, financial institution, auto mechanic, drug store, hairdresser or barber, website and/or graphic designer, auto dealer –

What is it that keeps you going back?

Better yet, what keeps your customers coming back to you?

What stops them from taking their business elsewhere?

What stops your customers from taking?their business elsewhere?

Is it because you?serve a niche market?

Do you?provide a great product or service that your customers can’t get anywhere else, at least at this time?

Your comments?....

Chances are, that if the product and/or service they’re receiving isn’t worth, in their eyes, what they’re paying, their?loyalty will vanish fast if and when a competitor enters the game.

In fact, the game could be over?for a?niche business once a new player enters the market – especially if your service isn’t great and your competitor is able to take advantage of this.

Is it because you?are near to where your customers live or work?

Are you?simply easiest to do business with?

In other words, is your service so-so, but you’re conveniently located?to your customers?

When another?business?– new or existing – ups the quality of their product, reduces their prices and/or delivers superior customer service to you – and is just as close in proximity as you are?– your customers?may?be making a move.

?In fact, customers?may even make the move if they?have to travel a bit further and pay a bit more – especially if customer service at the new place is great, and yours?is only so-so.

Is it because of pricing?

Plain and simple pricing? Not great customer service or a better product? Not more convenient or a niche market? Just plain and simple pricing?

Chances are if your service isn’t at least average, and even if it is, your customers will consider switching to a competitor who has upped the ante with superior service, an equally good product and maybe even a bump in the price.

Is it because of great customer service?

Is?the customer service you deliver high quality?

Do you deliver on your promises?

Is what you say about your products and services true?

The truth is, you don’t have to be the lowest price to keep your customers, assuming the way your deliver your products and services makes up for any extra bump in the price.

For most of us, real loyalty to a business stems from dealing with one?that we believe behaves in a manner that shows that we and our business?are valued and important to them.

It doesn’t matter whether the business thinks they’re dealing with customers well, what matters is whether the customers believes this or not.?

If they don’t believe it, there won’t be loyalty.

If they do, there generally will be.

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