How Loyal Are You?

When I was still at school my team was Liverpool. I lived and breathed Football – and Liverpool. Even in my fifties, I still follow them despite the needling from friends who support another team.

I often go for a walk wearing my Liverpool jersey which has my name blazoned on the back – (like I’m famous!). Nearly every time I do this, I pass someone going the other way and they will quietly mention to me “nice shirt”. Liverpool is their team as well. In fact, I mentioned my allegiance at a conference last week and one of the delegates made a point of coming up to me to say, “they are my team to!” We had an instant bond.

However, it was a picture and a quote attributed to Tony Adams who spent his entire playing career playing for Arsenal (22 Years) that I wanted to replicate. Why? Because there are so many posts these days about culture and leadership but what about loyalty.

Are you a loyal employee?

Are you a loyal employer?

Several years ago, I was at a conference with AMP in Australia and one of the speakers was Steve Simpson. He gave us some statistics along these lines – One third of your workers were engaged, one third were disengaged and one third were actively disengaged. In other-words, two thirds of your employees couldn’t give a hoot about you and your business – wow!

Since that time, I have only been interested in two HR questions. Why did to come to work for us? Why do you stay?

My motto is, if you are going to work for someone, give it everything. Be loyal, express this value like you mean it, form a tribe with a shared vision and your team, your audience will love you for it.