Loyalty
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Loyalty
2006-03-08
Phil Duncan
What is loyalty?
Loyalty has many faces, depending upon who wants to receive it and who chooses to bestow it.
Exploring loyalty from the perspective of a warrior or soldier can be especially enlightening by contemplating the struggle between self-preservation and self-sacrifice that every warrior must face when in a life threatening battle for that which they believe in and are loyal to. What factors motivate a person to endure potentially self-destructive circumstances because of their loyalty to a concept, a cause, a person, a belief, etc.? [Credibility]
[Martial Art or Sport?]
Many definitions of loyalty abound as do theories of what compels loyalty and what sustains loyalty.
Much information exists about the concept of loyalty as related to a business keeping its customers returning repeatedly; however, this information often characterizes "loyal" behavior as repeat transactions that resulted primarily from the business rewarding certain customer behaviors via factors directly controlled by the business.
- Encouraging customer loyalty
- Nine Laws of Loyalty
Another perspective about loyalty focuses on the behavior of the person receiving loyalty as a principle factor that inspires/motivates/compels/creates loyalty.
- Loyalty Based Leadership
"Perhaps as an instructor, I needed to better understand why loyalty was first born and why it is such fragile thing that only lives from moment to moment and class to class in a new student.
I had never really thought about when or why the birth of loyalty occurred in students because I had perceived that it only existed in those who had "proven" themselves. I just taught classes and waited for loyalty to appear in the form of senior students.
I thought I had always done what an instructor was supposed to do, students came to class and I taught them. I had always felt that I was being as loyal to my students as they were to me, but now I questioned that perspective. Had I done all that I could to demonstrate my loyalty to them as early as possible in their training? After all, my students had willingly bestowed their loyalty upon me and given me their unquestioning trust the very first day they stepped in my Dojang. What was I waiting for? They knew only what I taught them about this strange new activity and they trusted me to do everything I could to help them succeed in their daunting new martial art endeavor. They literally entrusted me with their fragile new dreams. How could a white belt have given me any more loyalty than that?"
Phil Duncan
For martial art school owners, studio business information is available regarding strategies for retaining students and keeping them interested and active in the instructor's dojang. (~encouraging students/parents to be loyal) Encouraging student loyalty is an especially challenging and important matter for studio owners. For a studio owner it is necessary to recruit and sustain a body of students who find value in their training experience and who are willing to express their value assertion financially via their tuition in order for the studio to maintain operations. The future preservation of our art and the President's Vision for it depend upon instructors operating successful Moo Do dojangs that will be available for future students who come seeking training opportunities.
- Tuition Billing Companys - student retention advice
- Teacher/education consultants - keeping students in school
- Read Chuck Norris Kick Start program study proving martial arts helps keep kids in school
- Our Identity
- The Jeh Ja
- Practitioners: more than just physical and more than just in the dojang
Beneath all this information about loyalty there lurks a more basic question, "What is loyalty?" and from that question springs many more. How is loyalty demonstrated? How is loyalty recognized and acknowledged? Can loyalty be encouraged? Is loyalty different in different realms? (i.e. Is the act of staying in school loyalty? Is it loyalty to the school? Is it loyalty to education? Is it loyalty to self betterment? Or is it simply societal pressure and not loyalty at all? Is loyal behavior different than loyalty? Even the asking of questions about loyalty reveals its slippery nature.
For example, consider the phrasing of these questions and the pre-conceived notions about loyalty that they reveal may be present indicate in the asker:
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"What makes a student loyal?" The phrasing of this question implies/infers that the instructor/studio owner controls a student's loyalty and calls for an answer revealing how they do so. This question approaches loyalty as if it is an externally controlled behavior. While external factors may be considered by a student in their loyalty decision, true loyalty originates much deeper inside the student than external factors may be able to influence or control.
Tremendous evidence exists proving that "loyal" behavior can be encouraged, but is loyal behavior really loyalty or is it more akin to a conditioned Pavlovian response or a learned behavior that complies with some social or other pressure? "Loyal" behaviors can often be more about "what's best for me," "what's in it for me" and as such may not be the same as loyalty.
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"Why is a student loyal?" "Why does a student remain loyal?" The phrasing of these questions imply/infer that the student controls their loyalty and calls for an answer about the factors that a student might evaluate and consider when choosing whether or not to bestow loyalty upon their instructor. This question approaches loyalty as being internally driven from within the student while acknowledging that the student may consider external factors when choosing to be loyal or not.
Tremendous evidence supports that this perspective is more balanced as it distinguishes "loyal" behavior from "loyalty." It considers loyalty as being internally driven and that loyalty may result in a high degree of subserviance of self, or self sacrifice [membership code of conduct] without concern for "what's best for me," "what's in it for me," because loyalty originates from an even more powerful inner need, and it may be attached to some higher purpose or belief - whether internal or external.
However loyalty is defined, two important perspectives warrant serious contemplation:
- Loyalty as bestowed
- Loyalty as received
"Loyalty breeds success. Friends, family, organizations, and even life itself benefit from our loyalty. Yet, blind loyalty never serves anyone."
Unknown
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