Integrity Ideas are specific actions a leader can consider during the Re-Align step of Integriosity^®–actions that will begin to Re-Align the organization with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.  You can find more Integrity Ideas at Integrous | Integrity Ideas (integriosity.com)

INTEGRITY IDEA: Re-Align Loyalty

Loyalty is usually seen as virtuous, but the brokenness of business as usual can misalign loyalty–attaching allegiance to the wrong objects, the wrong purposes, and the wrong priorities. Loyalty can be beautiful when rightly ordered, but destructive when misplaced.

“Re-Align Loyalty” is about implementing practices to ensure that the overriding allegiance of leaders, managers and employees is to principles rather than people–toward the bigger WHY of the organization–and that the allegiance given to work commitments is properly understood in the context of other “life” commitments.

Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization.  Some are critical steps in the RENEW/RE-ALIGN/RE-IMAGINE/RESTORE process; others are ideas to consider through prayerful discernment as faithful leaders steward the organization toward its WHY. While some Integrity ideas are simple but costly to implement, “Re-Align Loyalty” is inexpensive but challenging, because it requires heart change on the part of leaders that leads to culture change, and culture change can be slow. Challenging as it may be, “Re-Align Loyalty” is critical to the pursuit of faithful integrity in alignment with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities toward Biblical flourishing.

“Re-Align Loyalty” recognizes that, because misaligned loyalty is not attached to the organization’s bigger WHY–its God-given purpose of glorifying God through maximizing Biblical flourishing–or rooted in Biblical principles, it can undermine an organization’s Re-Imagined Purpose, Re-Imagined Values and Re-Imagined Culture as well as a faithful leader’s pursuit of Biblical flourishing.

Even a secular organizational psychologist like Adam Grant recognizes that misaligned loyalty corrupts integrity:

Most leaders value loyalty. Great leaders put a higher premium on integrity. Loyalty is allegiance to power. You’re expected to show deference and follow orders. Integrity is allegiance to principles. You’re expected to challenge orders that violate your mission or values.

Misaligned loyalty can appear in many forms, including:

• Employees believing “loyalty” means affirming their leader’s decisions rather than offering honest challenge–or a leader creating a culture in which challenges are perceived as “dangerous.”

• A leader believing “loyalty” requires tolerating chronic underperformance by an employee rather than lovingly confronting it.

• A “real” culture in which “loyalty to the organization” supersedes loyalty to faith, family or health.

• A leader tolerating toxic employees or toxic customers out of “loyalty” to owners or the pursuit of profit.

The perceived virtuousness of loyalty becomes distorted when loyalty is detached from God’s design.  We can see this distortion in a business as usual culture by considering what loyalty can look like when influenced by what we have described as four key characteristics of business as usual:

• Profit as Purpose: When Profit as Purpose drives decision-making, allegiance is shown to toxic but highly productive employees or toxic but highly lucrative customers, at the expense of the flourishing of other employees most impacted by the toxicity.

• Scarcity Assumption: When scarcity drives decisions, loyalty to the organization is demanded over commitments to family, faith and health, because scarcity does not offer a “third way” of reconciling those commitments.

• Self-Interest Assumption: When people are driven by self-interest and use self-interest to manipulate others, loyalty can demand and become blind allegiance to leaders.  Leaders use fear to avoid challenge, and employees avoid challenging authority to keep their jobs or to advance their careers.

• “Can We” Approach: When a “Can We” culture is combined with Profit as Purpose, Scarcity and Self Interest, loyalty can become about the willingness to live on the slippery of taking greater risks, bending rules, ignoring norms, and operating in gray areas. We recently explored this in depth in post #281 (Stay Off the Slippery ‘Can We” Slope).

Each distortion replaces allegiance to God’s principles with allegiance to performance, fear, or self.

Misaligned loyalty can quietly rot the heart of an organization. We’ve seen tragic results when loyalty is misplaced in an organizational culture:

• At Enron, misplaced loyalty led employees to hide the truth, rationalize deceit, and destroy trust.

• At Boeing, misplaced loyalty led employees to ignore or keep quiet about safety concerns.

• At Wells Fargo, misplaced loyalty led to management ignoring or retaliating against reports of unethical practices.

• At Volkswagen, misplaced loyalty led engineers to cheat emissions tests.

We see the damage that can be done by misaligned loyalty as well as the power of “Re-Aligned Loyalty” in the story of David and Bathsheba.  In 2 Samuel 11, we learn that David, in order to cover up his misdeed with Bathsheba, orders Joab to put Uriah “in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”  Joab blindly follows David’s order, killing a fellow soldier.  Joab’s obedience looked like loyalty, but it was betrayal of a higher allegiance. What if Joab had refused, even at the risk of his own life? What if Joab had acted like Nathan, revealing truth to David? Joab acted out of misaligned loyalty.  Nathan acted out of loyalty aligned with God’s principles.

“Re-Align Loyalty” in pursuit of the bigger WHY of Biblical flourishing calls for leaders to Keep First Things First, aligning loyalty with the First Things of Righteousness, Kingdom, Love and Humility.

• Righteousness calls for loyalty to be aligned with living in accordance with God’s design and living generously with authenticity.  It grounds loyalty not in self-preservation or power but in living sacrificially, doing the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons. Woodrow Wilson once said, “Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.”

• Kingdom calls for loyalty to be aligned with Imago Dei, with work as a source of fulfillment and flourishing, and with allegiance to Humanizing People, Beautifying the World and Glorifying God.

• Love calls for loyalty to be aligned with Proverbs 27:6 (“Faithful are the wounds of a friend“), Proverbs 27:17 (“Iron sharpens iron“) and Ephesians 4:15 (“Speaking the truth in love“), with the Golden Rule and with the commandment to love your neighbor.  Nicky Gumbel captured this aspect of loyalty with the words, “Loyalty means I am with you whether you are wrong or right. But I will tell you when you are wrong and help you get it right.”

• Humility calls for loyalty to be aligned with Proverbs 11:2 (“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom”), Proverbs 11:4 (“In an abundance of counselors there is safety“), and Proverbs 12:15 (“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice”); with a recognition that each person has been given unique gifts and brings unique knowledge, wisdom and experience; and with an understanding of the Cultural Mandate and the leader’s role as steward of an organization owned by God.

Loyalty properly aligned with a WHY of Biblical flourishing calls for leaders with the humility to foster a culture where loyalty means offering one’s unique knowledge, wisdom and experience, even when it challenges authority. It calls for leaders who exemplify love and a recognition of Imago Dei by helping people find work that allows them to flourish–even when that means releasing them. It calls for leaders committed to creating a culture of Shalom in which loyalty to the organization is understood within loyalty to faith, family and health, and loyalty to employees and customers is not sacrificed in the pursuit of profit.

“Re-Align Loyalty” reflects and reaffirms an organizational culture of faithful integrity that is aligned with Biblical principles–one that prioritizes relationships, community, human dignity, and flourishing; embraces Imago Dei; and encourages leaders and employees to live out the Golden Rule and the commandment to love your neighbor.

CONTINUUM: Practices

The Integriosity model organizes “heart change” along six Covert-Overt Continuums.  There is nothing magic about these categories, but we believe they are helpful in thinking about practical execution of a Re-Imagined Purpose, Re-Imagined Values and a Re-Imagined Culture.  The Continuums are Prayer, Proclamation, Policies, Practices, Products, People.

Each Continuum represents an area in which leaders can begin to think about, plan and institute Re-Alignment changes to the heart of the organization.

“Re-Align Loyalty” is on the Practices Continuum. Practices reflect, and at the same time help shape and reinforce, an organization’s culture.  Purpose and values define the culture of an organization; the culture shapes the behavior of the people in the organization; and the behavior of the people drives the results of the organization. “Re-Align Loyalty” furthers the pursuit of Biblical flourishing and the bigger WHYs of Humanizing People, Beautifying the World and Glorifying God, Keeps First Things First by aligning with the Biblical principles of Righteousness, Kingdom, Love and Humility, and reinforces the priorities of the Creation Mandate, Imago Dei, the Golden Rule and the commandments to love God and love your neighbor.

COVERT-OVERT RATING: Highly Covert

The Integriosity model breaks the Covert-Overt Continuums into six gradations–from Highly Covert to Highly Overt–that we believe are helpful in beginning to pray and think about what is most appropriate for an organization at a particular moment in time.

Most Integrity Ideas will have one place on the scale.  Some can vary depending on how they are implemented.

“Re-Align Loyalty” is Highly Covert (an action that would be taken by a secular company), because every organization could and should encourage and cultivate an understanding of loyalty that ensures leaders have the very best information for making decisions, people are in the jobs that most align with their unique gifts, and employees feel seen and cared for.

“Re-Align Loyalty” can also be Overt (An overtly faith-based action known generally within the organization) if the leader chooses, for example, to explain “loyalty” in terms of Biblical beliefs, principals and priorities.

STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees

When we categorize faith-based actions, we also consider the stakeholders principally impacted by the action: Employees, Customers/Clients, Owners, Suppliers/Vendors, Community and Kingdom.

“Re-Align Loyalty” principally serves employees by ensuring leaders have the very best information for making decisions, people are in the jobs that most align with their unique gifts, and employees feel seen and cared for.

IMPLEMENTATION

“Re-Align Loyalty” is not theoretical—it must take tangible shape in how a culture behaves.  While some Integrity Ideas are simple but costly to implement, “Re-Align Loyalty” is inexpensive but challenging.  It is challenging because it is about changing culture–and changing culture is challenging. Turning conviction into culture requires practical reflection and courageous implementation.

Culture is important because it defines the day-to-day experience that various stakeholders have with the organization.  It is how employees experience their work-day, how vendors experience contract negotiations and contract performance, and how customers experience interacting with the organization.  Unlike lofty purpose statements and value lists, culture is where the rubber meets the road and the boots hit the ground.

If the culture of the organization is not reinforcing its desired purpose and stated values, it is likely eroding them.  Whether an organization’s culture ultimately encourages and leads its people to do the right things, in the right ways and for the right reasons, goes back to its purpose, as translated through its values and communicated by its leaders.

Regardless of what is posted on the website as an organization’s formal Re-Imagined Purpose and Re-Imagined Values, stakeholders such as employees, customers and vendors will experience, and respond to, what they perceive to be the real purpose and real values.  Their experiences and responses form the real culture. In the words of Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM:

What is critical to understand here is that people do not do what you expect but what you inspect. Culture is not a prime mover. Rather it is a derivative. It forms as a result of signals employees get from the corporate processes that structure their work priorities.

The first step toward ensuring that an organization’s real culture about loyalty aligns with the Re-Imagined Culture being cultivated to reflect and reinforce its Re-Imagined Purpose and Re-Imagined Values is to undertake an honest assessment of the organization’s current real loyalty culture.  Once again turning to the wisdom of Lou Gerstner:

[F]or any CEO who wants to understand the real culture in his or her company: Do not look at the value statement in the new employee handbook. Go deep and understand what each process in the company is telling employees is important. Again, people do not do what you expect but what you inspect.

It requires an honest assessment of the organization’s current culture regarding loyalty, as reflected in its policies and practices related to areas such as hiring, termination, discipline, compensation, recognition, ethical behavior, training, vacation, family leave, customer service, vendors, and community service. Such an assessment must dig underneath the culture to examine the assumptions and motivations (such as Scarcity, Self-Interest and “Can We” Ethics) that may have underpinned the current policies and practices.

Leaders can begin to implement the assessment on their own through larger-group forums, team meetings, table discussions, and one-on-one meetings.  It takes courage, tremendous humility and thoughtful planning for leaders to create spaces for employees to be honest and questions that will elicit helpful information.  The evaluation process is likely to be hindered if there is a culture of misaligned loyalty that makes honesty seem “dangerous.”

Getting honest answers may require involvement of an outside party who guarantees anonymity.  It can also be difficult to get employees to respond honestly about problems if responses are being returned to management.  The greater the assurance of anonymity, the higher the likelihood of an honest assessment.

In undertaking an assessment, a faithful leader should consider questions such as:

• How do employees understand “loyalty to the organization”?  Is it principally allegiance to authority or allegiance to the organization’s purpose and values?

• Do employees feel safe speaking truth to power?

• Are dissenting voices valued or punished?

• Do the organization’s reward systems reinforce speaking truth, or staying silent?

• Does loyalty to the company compete with loyalty to faith, family, or health?

• Is there a process to help chronically underperforming employees to find a place within the organization that best fits their unique gifts? Is there a process to release such employees with dignity and assistance if their gifts cannot be used effectively in the organization?  In post #215 (Integrity Idea 045: Terminate with Gold) we explored following the Golden Rule in employee terminations.

• Are there practices and procedures to identify and address toxic behavior by employees, customers or vendors that undermines loyalty to other employees? Are there any systemic or cultural issues contributing to or even rewarding toxic behavior?  We explored this in-depth in post #253 (Integrity Idea 066: Stop the Rot).

An honest assessment of the real culture regarding loyalty is just the first step in bringing the real culture of the organization in line with its “Re-Align Loyalty”.  Re-alignment may require courageous action, prayerfully taking steps to bring the real culture back in alignment with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.

We believe a good way to start is by helping employees understand the difference between allegiance to a person and allegiance to the organization.  This is a concept well developed in the legal profession (yet frequently misunderstood by clients). A lawyer representing an organization is not representing the CEO and must ultimately act in the best interest of the organization even to the detriment of the CEO.

Just as lawyers, in the normal course, express loyalty to the organization by showing loyalty to its leaders, employees should understand that loyalty to those in authority is a way to show allegiance to the organization. But the shift of “Re-Align Loyalty” is for faithful leaders to emphasize that loyalty to the organization’s purpose and values must take priority. True loyalty is not flattery; it is faithful stewardship.

Employees must be empowered, encouraged and protected in speaking truth to authority if they believe that a decision or action could undermine that purpose or those values.  Managers must be empowered, encouraged and protected in lovingly confronting employees who are chronically underperforming to help them find work that allows them to flourish, even if it means releasing them.  Leaders must be empowered, encouraged and protected in addressing toxic behavior by employees, vendors or customers.  Everyone must be empowered, encouraged and protected in balancing allegiance to the organization with allegiance to faith, family and health.

Seth Godin correctly observes that counter-cultural initiatives like “Re-Align Loyalty” can take time to implement:

If you’ve read ten employee handbooks that say one thing when the company does another, you’re likely to not believe the eleventh one. When you hear a boss say ‘people before profits’, you’re likely to hold back before baring your soul and sharing your fears. “Trust me” is easy to say, especially when you mean it, but hard to hear.  Showing tends to beat telling, and it takes a very long time to earn trust when you’re running counter to culture.

Many of our posts offer ideas that may be helpful in realigning loyalty in the organization’s culture toward flourishing and with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.  Here are a few:

• On creating a culture in which employees are encouraged to speak truth to authority

Post # 214–Integrity Idea 044: Re-Imagine the Box

Post #246–Integrity Idea 064: Seek Horizontal Counsel

Post #268–Integrity Idea 074: Implement Human AI

Post #295–Integrity Idea 083: Nurture Nathans

• On ensuring that managers are a good fit for a “Re-Align Loyalty” culture:

Post #185–Integrity Idea 030: Encourage “Biblical EQ”

Post #265–Integrity Idea 072: Seek “Moses Managers”

• On ensuring that loyalty to the organization is understood within loyalty to faith, family and health:

Post #130–Integrity Idea 004: Promote an ERG

Post #147–Integrity Idea 015: Remember the Fourth

Post #170–Integrity Idea 023: Segregate Sacred Space

Post #175–Integrity Idea 025: Reward Rest

Post #195–Integrity Idea 034: Fortify Family

Post #232–Integrity Idea 055: Nurture Nutrition

Post #233–Integrity Idea 056: Fortify Fitness

Post # 234–Integrity Idea 056: Waken Wellness

Aligning an organizational culture with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities and a priority of Biblical flourishing is counter-cultural, and counter-cultural actions by a faithful leader require courage and trust.  James Hunter warns:

To enact a vision of human flourishing based in the qualities of life that Jesus modeled will invariably challenge the given structures of the social order. In this light, there is no true leadership without putting at risk one’s time, wealth, reputation, and position.

Leading faithfully through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing in the face of risks and resistance requires faith, and faith requires trust in God’s sovereignty and God’s promises, such as the promise in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.  

PERSONAL NOTE (from PM):  Loyalty is one of the core values of Integrous.  The other two are Excellence and Integrity.  The Integrous values are included in our engagement letter with a client, together with an acknowledgement by our client that they accept the importance of these values to who we are and agree to cooperate with us in upholding them throughout the engagement.

I express the value of loyalty as follows:

Loyalty

• Our loyalty to God means that we do not open our office on Sundays, we respect (and ask our clients to respect) the honoring of a Sabbath day by our people, our work expectations take into account faith as a higher priority, and we will not advice on business activities that we believe exploit weaknesses in people or that degrade people.
• Loyalty to our clients means that we do not bill more than we or they believe is fair, that we take extra care to avoid potential conflicts, that we make personal sacrifices to ensure excellence and that we strive to do work as efficiently as is consistent with excellence.
• Loyalty to our families means that our work expectations take into account family as a higher priority.

ESSENCE:  Integrity Ideas are specific actions a faithful leader can consider in leading faithfully through business a better way.

INTEGRITY IDEA: Re-Align Loyalty

Loyalty is usually seen as a virtue, but the brokenness of business as usual can misalign loyalty–attaching allegiance to the wrong objects, the wrong purposes and the wrong priorities. “Re-Align Loyalty” is about implementing practices to ensure that the overriding allegiance of leaders, managers and employees is to principles rather than people–toward the bigger WHY of the organization–and that the allegiance given to work commitments is properly understood in the context of other “life” commitments. “Re-Align Loyalty” recognizes that faithful integrity toward Biblical flourishing requires a culture in which allegiances are aligned with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities, particularly the First Things of Righteousness, Kingdom, Love, and Humility that are embedded in the concept of Integriosity^®.  It recognizes that misaligned allegiances can undermine an organization’s Re-Imagined Purpose, Re-Imagined Values and Re-Imagined Culture as well as a faithful leader’s pursuit of Biblical flourishing. Misaligned loyalty can show up in many ways–in ways it is demanded or offered by leaders or given blindly or fearfully by employees. Loyalty properly aligned with a WHY of Biblical flourishing calls for leaders with the humility to foster a culture where loyalty means offering one’s unique knowledge, wisdom and experience, even when it challenges authority. It calls for leaders who exemplify love and a recognition of Imago Dei by helping people find work that allows them to flourish–even when that means releasing them. It calls for leaders committed to creating a culture of Shalom in which loyalty to the organization is understood within loyalty to faith, family and health, and loyalty to employees and customers is not sacrificed in the pursuit of profit.  

COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action):  Practices

COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt):  Highly Covert

STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees

Copyright © 2025 Integrous LLC.  Integriosity is a registered Service Mark of Integrous LLC.

Photo credit: Original image “Loyalty” by ucffool on Flickr.com. CC by 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
(image cropped)