Work Mode with Brown Uzoukwu: 5 Attributes of a Loyal Employee

The argument has been on for a while now concerning what organizational loyalty is.

Who is a more loyal employee? The employee that has been in an organization for ten years, and in that time has learnt to do just enough to fly, unseen, under the performance appraisal radar?  Or the employee who has been in an organization for 18 months and believes in the vision of the organization, and is also proving by action the belief that the company can get there?

In my opinion, loyalty rules for employees has gone beyond blind obedience of instructions, unthinking devotion or length of service.

Off course, experience is important; but there is more to organisational loyalty than length of tenure.
Young career persons should not be discouraged by how young their career is and how much of loyalty they can boast off – in an organization where there are colleagues who have spent more years. True loyalty has gone passed that.

Loyal employees are not just committed to helping their organization succeed, their loyalty is also manifested in various ways. Below are six ways you can offer your loyalty to your organization as a young career person.

Integrity
A lot of people assume loyalty is proven through obedience – even when a request or instruction falls into the grey area or worse, is unethical or illegal.
The truth of the matter is that, an employee who consistently seeks to do the right thing is not just pursuing a personal agenda but he or she is also looking out for her organization’s interests. You might be seen as disloyal today, but in time, your organization will realize that you are displaying the highest form of loyalty. Young career persons must build integrity at whatever cost because it is the true test of loyalty.

Common Goals
Loyalty rules demand that an employee must care about his organization, about its customers/clients, about its mission. They must know they are working for something greater than themselves. A loyal employee believes and works for the common goal. So they appreciate it when another employee does something great because it helps the common objective.

Divergent Views
Every great work environment fosters debate and disagreement. Loyal employees share their opinion even when they know the organization may not initially appreciate it. This is because, they want the company to become better tomorrow than it is today. They will occasionally take stands against a point of view or debate. Great bosses want employees to question, to deliberate and to push back. Disagreement is healthy. It is stimulating and it leads to better decisions.

Good Ambassadors
Loyal employees are ambassadors of their organization. They support their organization in public genuinely. After a decision is made, loyal employees get behind that decision even if they privately disagree. You don’t just pay the decision lip service, you ensure you support the decision as if it were yours because when you are loyal to your organization, every decision is ultimately yours.
Loyalty demands that you put aside personal feelings and actively try to make every decision the right decision, instead of praying it fails, so that you can be vindicated.

Timely Exit
Loyal employees leave when they need to leave. I know this doesn’t sound like what you know loyalty to be, but it is true. Loyal employees are assets to their organization, so most times they aren’t expected to leave. Yet, sometimes, they have to. Either for a different lifestyle, for a bigger opportunity, for a career shift or simply to take what they have learnt to start their own company.

As a loyal employee, when it is time to leave, tell your organization and if allowed, help fill the hole you absence is going to create either by developing someone in the organization or recommending another for employment.

Stay loyal and do have a productive week.

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