I’m a big fan of the Harry potter series, and I was binge watching the entire series over the weekend. This scene from Order of the Phoenix particularly stood out. In this scene, when Prof. McGonagall confronts Umbridge about the punishments given to her students, Umbridge accuses her of being disloyal.
It’s easy to dismiss this as a conversation from an evil character from a fictional universe, but a lot of our leaders follow the same rhetoric.
Loyalty is often confused with subjugation. Most leaders are conditioned to think that they are always right, even when there is overwhelming evidence saying otherwise. When anyone refuses to toe their line, is branded as disloyal.
Loyalty is built through trust, not coerced. Trust is built when you nurture your team, guide them through failures and help them grow. It’s not built when you set them up for failure and boast when they actually fail. You have to be nice to your team, genuinely care about them for this to work.
It takes time, but once it’s established people will stand by you during your darkest hour. If not, well, watch the first 45 seconds of this video for the answer.