Loyalty is a cherished value amongst family, friends, colleagues, or any group of people.  It provides a sense of security and solidarity.

It also has its dark side.

It helps to keep us safer from discovery of our deficiencies or dysfunction.

As a former member of the defense force and law-enforcement, I've experienced loyalty in its duality.

At its best it kept people alive and functioning according to their higher purpose.

At its worst it kept the status quo, including all manner of dysfunction.

It is possible for good people in such circumstances to be loyal to their bretheren, even knowing that their bretheren are dysfunctional.

Ultimately this loyalty is misplaced and exacts a heavy toll on those who know and are stuck in the culture of "unconditional loyalty".

Today, with information easily obtainable about anything and everything, the protection that loyalty used to afford is diminishing - as witnessed by the actions surrounding WikiLeaks and the recent Australian defense force scandals, not to mention the repetitive sagas of law-enforcement agencies.

It's actually a global human issue, not confined to defense forces or law-enforcement agencies.  It occurs in all groups of people.

In the Commercial Workplace

My focus is in this workplace, where I serve my clients.

I am astounded by the level of tolerance or ignorance some leaders exhibit towards significant long term values breaches by individuals in their employ.

Most often it is ignorance. At times it simply a matter of "It doesn't affect me". They have people who are remarkably adept at managing upwardly - displaying all the traits sought by the leader, whilst disrespecting and abusing the people alongside and beneath them, or "playing the system" for their personal agenda and advantage, at the expense of their fellows and the organisation.

For reasons related to fear and the culture of "not dobbing", these behaviours go unchecked. And good people leave.

A typical example can be described like this: -

A senior manager of long standing and proven competency, is also a workplace pyschopath.

He or she also has a very effective relationship with the CEO and everyone knows that.

From the unaware CEO's point of view, the psychopaths deliver excellent results, even though their staff turnover is very high.  Today that is often deemed as "acceptable".

Notably, that CEO often wonders why it is difficult to retain talent.

The pyschopath's peers and subordinates are aware of the psychopath but are unwilling to share their knowledge with the CEO.  Their excuse for silence is usually given under the banner of loyalty - if not to the psychopath, then to their CEO and their culture. They are fearful, and follow the unaware CEO's lead.

The status quo remains.  The damage to the organisation is hidden.

Solution

The buck stops with the senior leadership - the CEO and the board.

Unusual pockets of high staff turnover, despite apparent performance, must be investigated and remedied by the senior leadership.  Similarly, unusual behaviour, such as workplace desertion, loss of property, broken agreements and other signs of dysfunction must be investigated thoroughly and not ignored in favour of apparent performance.

It's unrealistic to expect junior leaders and non-leaders to have the courage, skill or authority to challenge such a situation, in the face of senior leader tolerance or ignorance.

The value "Loyalty" has to be redifined as "Conditional Loyalty" - conditional upon values adherence, not just performance.

Long service, relationships and performance are not sufficient to earn loyalty without values adherence being fully present also.

Breached values equals breached loyalty and tolerance is of that is also a breach of loyalty.

Tolerance by leaders of these breaches undermines the leadership rapidly, and throws into question the leaders' integrity - are they complicite, are they participating?

Courage, staying authentically in touch with the workplace, values leadership and swift appropriate action are the solutions.