I was meeting with a client recently and we were speaking about coaching and the necessity of accountability in a coaching culture. I asked him about his field management staff and he was going region by region sharing with me which manager was good and bad and who had what results. He started telling me about these 3 managers he had in one market, and that their numbers were off and he felt it was because they were not getting out in the field with their teams and might even be a little complacent. I asked him if he had talk to them about their lack of efforts and diminishing results.
He said “of course I have, numerous times, but these guys have been with me for years, and they know what to do, I just don’t think they are willing to go out there and really get dirty like they use to several years ago”.
I said you need to make them do it and if they won’t do it, then you need to fire them or remove them.
He looked at me with great concern and said, “Nathan you don’t understand these guys have been with me for years. They have been loyal to me and the company for over 20 years”.
And there it was! The issue so many of us leaders have in business, ‘confusing loyalty with tenure’.
I said, “they are not loyal, they are tenured. You have paid them for a job well done for 20 years and therefore they stayed for 20 years. Listen I know a lot of people who have been with the same company for over 30 years who have no loyalty, heck I call some of them family. I also know many people who have been with a company for only 2 years and they are as loyal as they come. Loyalty is not based on time of employment, loyalty is based on contribution and commitment. Being at a job for 20 years makes a person no more of a loyal employee than a man who has been married for 20 years. To be a loyal spouse you must love your spouse, dedicate your heart to your spouse and the more you serve, love and are faithful to your spouse the more loyal you are (which takes work, change, and growth). The same goes for business”.
The next time you have an employee that has been with you for a long time, but no longer wants to do what is required to win and be passionate about their job or career, you owe it to them, the team and yourself to remove them. Let me be clear-it is much harder to be loyal, passionate and committed for many years, but so is winning and be successful! Reward loyalty not complacency.
