Commitment To Loyalty

Does your loyalty to a specific player or players impact the decisions you make for your team? I’ve been guilty of it as a head coach. I don’t know if it’s just “loyalty” to a player, or if it’s simply that I liked certain players and wanted to see them succeed. I felt because of the way they operated every day they deserved success. But that doesn’t always translate to the best decisions for the team.

This is from Admired Leaders on how loyalty to a person can undermine what’s best for the organization.

However, loyalty can undermine a decision critical to the health of the enterprise. When leaders factor in loyalty to people in their decision-making, they are often seduced to think differently about what is best for the team or organization. They justify a bad or poor decision by elevating the loyalty they have for a particular person affected by that choice. 

Unfortunately, no matter how virtuous loyalty to others is, when it comes to major decisions, allowing loyalty a big seat at the table will likely produce a poor choice. 

I’ve always been skeptical of loyalty as a critical factor in personal or team success. I just feel like it’s a moving target, and a definition that can be manipulated to fit a certain narrative. I understand the value of being loyal to people who you can trust, and people have have been really good to you. But when does that loyalty run it’s course? When I’m running a team, I have to be loyal to that team over any individual. Well, the reality is their are many decisions that are in the best interest of the team, that come at the expense of an individual who has been very loyal to you.

In my second year as a head coach at Rhode Island College, one of our returning seniors got hurt in the pre-season and couldn’t practice. He was a former first-team all league player, someone who struck fear in the rest of the coaches in the league. He had played for me as a junior and had a solid year, and we won 19 games. But coming back for his senior year he was hurt, and we had a sophomore who had played some as a freshmen and was very talented. The sophomore got the time when he was out, played very well, and our team had success - getting off to a good start and beating a division I team in the pre-season.

When the senior came back from his injury, what was I supposed to do? Give him his job back? Some of our discussions as a staff and with players on the team that I spoke with revolved around being “loyal” to the senior. So does loyalty mean as a veteran you get to keep your job forever? From his point of view, he could say he deserved my loyalty, because it fit his narrative.. But what if I thought the team was better off with him coming off the bench and the sophomore in the starting lineup? My job was to make the best decisions for the team, and I’m glad I’ve always been a little cold-blooded in that regard. The word loyalty just doesn’t resonate with me the way it does for many others, because I don’t really understand the blurred lines between loyalty and actually making the right decision.

(Friendly reminder, kids, when a coach says “you won’t lose your job to an injury,” that’s all well and good. But you might lose your job to the kid who is playing well while you are injured.” That’s just how team sports work).

I have been guilty of making the wrong decision, however, because of the way I felt about someone. There are certain players you just love and you expect to have success, and you keep giving them chances. You’ve got to fight that feeling as a leader. Make your decisions based on what is best for the organization. Loyalty may be a value that is important to you, but it shouldn’t lead you down a path of bad decision making. Figure out what your team needs, make the call based on that, and deal with the personalities separately.