Main Idea
Are the days gone where people work for one employer for life? Is this good or bad? Will Albert Pujols retire as a Cardinal or will he make a larger fortune going to the Cubs?
Expansion of Idea
In the last week if you turn on the news, it is hard to get away from LeBron James. For those of you who don’t follow professional sports, he is theoretically the best basketball player in the world and he just switched teams from his hometown Cleveland team to the Miami Heat. I personally do not care about professional basketball, but it is a great example of how loyalty comes into play in building great organizations. It appears that he decided before the playoffs that he wanted to play with his friends in Miami and as a result, he gave up on his team, even though his team had the best record in the league. Some may say he had loyalty, but I would say that the only loyalty shown was to himself. I would instead call that egocentric. He had an opportunity to build a great team and instead he focused on his own goals.
To build a truly great organization, loyalty to the team and to customers is a critical building block. The key to building loyalty in an organization is for the leader to have solid core values and live by them. When the leader shows loyalty to his team, then it is much easier for the team to show loyalty back. This does take time but building trust based on loyalty is a step that cannot be overlooked. By putting others interests ahead of yours, you are cementing a bond that cannot easily be broken. One other thing to consider – per Frederick Reichheld*, an increase in customer retention of as little as 5% can amount to an increase in profits of 20%. Loyalty is a very sound business strategy to improve your profits.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Am I loyal to my team and to the customers?
Do I expect loyalty even though I am not always loyal?
How can I improve my loyalty to my team?
How can I help my team with their loyalty?
Read a book by Frederick Reichheld called the Loyalty Effect.
*Frederick Reichheld is an author and consultant with Bain & Company and is one of the world’s foremost experts on loyalty and the effect on business.