{"id":145,"date":"2022-04-06T11:33:40","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T18:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/?p=145"},"modified":"2022-04-06T15:15:31","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T22:15:31","slug":"loyalty-and-competence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/loyalty-and-competence\/","title":{"rendered":"Loyalty and Competence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A recent document<\/a> allegedly\nleaked from the Kremlin accuses the Russian hierarchy of being based upon\nloyalty, not professionalism. \u201cAccordingly,\u201d the author writes, \u201cthe higher the\nlevel of leadership, the less reliable information they have.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This raises some interesting questions: shouldn\u2019t, after\nall, an organization have an inherent basis in loyalty across the levels of the\nhierarchy? If so, which is more important, competence (or professionalism) or\nloyalty? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s spend a moment examining this dichotomy. I\u2019ll posit \u2013 because I\u2019ve seen them \u2013 in business there exist loyalty-centric <\/em>organizations and competence-based <\/em>organizations. Each has their merits, but each has serious weaknesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Loyalty-Based Organization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Upon ascending to the American presidency, Donald Trump famously\nasked his staffers<\/a> to swear their personal loyalty to him. Whether this was\nbecause he felt insecure in his new role, or threatened, or because he had some\nother motive will likely never be known. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, in the military, loyalty is a mandate: follow orders or people\ndie<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every manager wants his or her teams to have some amount of personal loyalty; that\u2019s only human. Loyalty-based organizations take this to an extreme, however: the most loyal get the biggest raises, the juiciest assignments, and so on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, such organizations have advantages. For example, a manager\u2019s wish is followed \u2013 quickly \u2013 to the letter, which can be very satisfying (for the manager), and such organizations as a result often develop the reputation that they \u201cget things done.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there are some obvious downsides. A manager may hire less competent individuals \u2013 or favor them — if he or she deems them loyal, which results in the overall organizational capability to be lowered. Moreover, highly skilled employees will often recognize the existence of a clique \u2013 and leave. The work product of such a team will not infrequently be mediocre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Competence-Based Organization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the other end of the spectrum, competence-based\norganizations place the highest values on skills, knowledge, and\nprofessionalism. The driving factor in such organizations is not coming up with\nan answer, <\/em>but rather the best answer \u2013 <\/em>often, regardless of how\nlong it takes or whose feelings get hurt along the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competence-based organizations typically seek employees with\nthe highest degrees, with the most accomplishments, but often have trouble\nkeeping them; who wants to stay in a place where analysis takes precedence over\naccomplishment, where argument is the order of the day? Moreover, what manager\nwants to stay where employees have no respect or loyalty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ideal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, organizations should strive for some balance\nbetween the two; it\u2019s vitally important for teams to distinguish the relative\nvalues of competence and loyalty and strive to create a corporate culture that\nsupports both, one in which healthy, animated discussion of options has its\nplace, in which decisions are made with an open mind \u2013 but they are made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the real world of course most organizations swing more to one side or the other. As an employee you should know which your organization is; and as a manager, which of the two management styles you\u2019ve created, and perhaps think about making adjustments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So What Do You Do? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Well, your first decision is do you want to stay in this organization? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming the answer is yes, then if you’re on a loyalty-centric team, it’s probably a good idea to demonstrate loyalty, perhaps by complimenting your boss (“Good idea!”) every now and then, or giving him\/her credit (and maybe overdoing it a bit) during a meeting with your boss’s boss — even for one of your <\/em>ideas! That sort of sucking up can be distasteful, but, hey, you said you wanted to stay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re in a competence-based organization, put on a program manager hat every now and then and see if you can drive decisions or an action plan (“I see we’ve got just five minutes left in this meeting, what’s the next step?”). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, incidentally, what appears to be a competence-based team isn’t really — it’s just that the manager is afraid to take responsibility for a decision. If that’s the case, consider making the decision yourself <\/em>(assuming you’re okay with the risk). That way the manager can feel comfortable that there’s someone else to point at if things go south (like I say, only if you’re comfortable with taking the responsibility). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent document allegedly leaked from the Kremlin accuses the Russian hierarchy of being based upon loyalty, not professionalism. \u201cAccordingly,\u201d the author writes, \u201cthe higher the level of leadership, the less reliable information they have.\u201d This raises some interesting questions: shouldn\u2019t, after all, an organization have an inherent basis in loyalty across the levels of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Loyalty and Competence”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149,"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions\/149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}