Letting Your Team Fill the Middle of the Loyalty Spectrum
Besides your time, what is the most important asset in your business?
To answer this question, consider the following 2 questions:
- What causes you the most problems?
- What is your largest fixed cost?
For most business owners, the answer to these 2 questions is often “my employees” or “my team”. The fact is that if you want your company to continuously grow and generate a profit, you need to make sure that you are getting the most out of your team.
Unfortunately, most businesses struggle to get the productivity they should out of their employees. There are a variety of reasons for this challenge and most are directly related to a lack of leadership.
However, even in those circumstances where management does an exceptional job of leading, a problem with productivity typically still exists. One reason for this challenge is that most employees aren’t fully committed and loyal to the company and its leadership.
I argue that these employees are stuck in the middle of the “Loyalty Spectrum”. The “Loyalty Spectrum” is a simple visual representation that allows leaders to clearly set expectations with their team.
Here’s how it works. The loyalty spectrum has 2 extremes. On the far left you see an “I” which stands for “Idiot”. The employee who falls on this end of the spectrum has the following opinions about leadership at the company:
- They pay me far less than I am worth.
- They don’t care at all about the growth of my career.
- They are making bad decisions and running the company into the ground.
- They are dishonest, have a bad character and no integrity.
On the far right you see a “G” which stands for “Genius”. The employee on this side of the spectrum has the following opinions about leadership at the company:
- They pay me at or above my market value.
- They are completely dedicated to the growth of my career.
- They are making the right decisions and helping the company to grow profitably.
- They are honest, have an impeccable character and their integrity is never in question.
The problem is that most employees fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum. If their boss just gave them a raise or implemented one of their suggestions, then leadership is viewed as a genius. On the other hand, if they just received a memo indicating a change with which they completely disagree then the company is being run by a bunch of idiots.
As a leader you must get your employees to choose one end of the spectrum. If they aren’t close to the “G” (indicated with green on the diagram above) they need to quit and get another job.
Positioning themselves in the green doesn’t mean that an employee agrees with every single decision that is made by leadership. However, it does mean that they trust that leadership is taking the company in the right direction and providing the employee with a fair wage and an opportunity to grow. If you want to get the most out of your team, you must insist that they pick a side (red or green).
There is no more living in the middle.
- How many of your employees are living in the “middle”?
- Does their productivity change with each circumstance?
- How much more profitable could your company be with a dedicated team that lived in the green?
