Whether you’re loyal to your girlfriend or your cell phone customers, a family member or your boss, loyalty will get you far in life.
Although these two girls may have been disappointed that this handsome young man wasn’t ogling them, they may have been more impressed in the end given he was loyal to his girlfriend even in her absence. Loyalty gains respect.
Loyalty also gains trust. Think of how you would feel if you found out that a colleague or friend was talking about you in your absence. Would you be nervous and concerned about what they had said, or would you be confident that their words were truthful and constructive? Conversely, what if you were in a conversation with a co-worker and the name of another co-worker came up. Would you be comfortable if they were to overhear what you were saying?
Spoken words are quite often communicated back to the person being spoken about. In this age of emails and texting, words also tend to stay around for a lot longer. The way you speak about a person in their absence can say a lot to both the person absent and the person present.
Like in the cell phone commercial, the two girls looking for attention knew they couldn’t convince the man to stray, and the girlfriend’s trust for her boyfriend grew because of his actions.
Consider a situation where you are unhappy with a co-worker’s performance. You go to your boss and really just want to vent and tell him all the things you think this person is doing wrong. Your boss offers to invite that person into the conversation so that you can work the problem out together. Your boss shows loyalty to his employee and your co-worker respects you for being honest with them in pointing out something they may not have realized. They also know where you stand.
Dag Hammarskjold said: “It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for the salvation of the masses.”
In this challenging market, it can be difficult to retain good employees and customers. Showing that you’re loyal can save you both! The benefits of loyalty are huge; Customer satisfaction, long term relationships, trust, employee retention, respect, honest communication, successful relationships, the list could go on!
Here are some suggestions on how you can be loyal:
1. Say only what you would be comfortable having the absent person hear.
2. Defend the absentee.
3. Seek clarification before making judgments.
4. Inform someone, if you have discussed them in a conversation, about what you said and your intended meaning.
Tags: cell phone, challenging market, communication, constructive, customer satisfaction, employee retention, employees, loyalty, noble, performance, relationships, respect, success, trust, truthful