Whether you’re loyal to your girlfriend or your cell phone customers, a family member or your boss, loyalty will get you far in life.

Although these two girls may have been disappointed that this handsome young man wasn’t ogling them, they may have been more impressed in the end given he was loyal to his girlfriend even in her absence. Loyalty gains respect.

Loyalty also gains trust. Think of how you would feel if you found out that a colleague or friend was talking about you in your absence. Would you be nervous and concerned about what they had said, or would you be confident that their words were truthful and constructive? Conversely, what if you were in a conversation with a co-worker and the name of another co-worker came up. Would you be comfortable if they were to overhear what you were saying?
Spoken words are quite often communicated back to the person being spoken about. In this age of emails and texting, words also tend to stay around for a lot longer. The way you speak about a person in their absence can say a lot to both the person absent and the person present.

Like in the cell phone commercial, the two girls looking for attention knew they couldn’t convince the man to stray, and the girlfriend’s trust for her boyfriend grew because of his actions.

Consider a situation where you are unhappy with a co-worker’s performance. You go to your boss and really just want to vent and tell him all the things you think this person is doing wrong. Your boss offers to invite that person into the conversation so that you can work the problem out together. Your boss shows loyalty to his employee and your co-worker respects you for being honest with them in pointing out something they may not have realized. They also know where you stand.

Dag Hammarskjold said: "It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for the salvation of the masses."
In this challenging market, it can be difficult to retain good employees and customers. Showing that you’re loyal can save you both! The benefits of loyalty are huge; Customer satisfaction, long term relationships, trust, employee retention, respect, honest communication, successful relationships, the list could go on!

Here are some suggestions on how you can be loyal:
1. Say only what you would be comfortable having the absent person hear.
2. Defend the absentee.
3. Seek clarification before making judgments.
4. Inform someone, if you have discussed them in a conversation, about what you said and your intended meaning.

Since the recent death of Michael Jackson, many people have made their way back to YouTube to watch the popular Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center inmates perform their version of Thriller- one among a repertoire of songs and choreographed numbers that the approximately 1500 inmates have practiced and performed over the last few years. Much can be learned from this daily afternoon prison break.

Watching the video and reading some of the press around the prison and this alternative physical fitness program reminded me of how important it is for individuals to have goals and to feel a sense of pride in what they do everyday.

In one article that I read, an inmate talks about how in the past, there was nothing to do in the afternoons but go back to their cells and talk or sleep. He then goes on to describe how different things are since the new program started- people busy preparing for their upcoming shows, keeping cells neat and clean, and even greeting one another in the morning.

So basically, this sense of purpose and pride is rehabilitating these prisoners to some degree and making it a much more pleasant environment for everyone involved. There was even less violence exhibited in the first year of the program, with not one fight breaking out in the prison.

There are many factors that contribute to effective, happy teams, but this example was a good reminder for me that people are happiest when they have that sense of purpose, a common goal to work towards that they believe in and when they are having fun. It might not be dancing to Thriller for all of us, but I guess the trick is figuring it out!

When delivering our team development training programs one of the areas of focus is on individual leadership and influence. The premise is that if you think of yourself as a leader you will do things differently than if you think of yourself as a follower. Leaders are proactive and get things done, while followers wait to be told what to do. The goal is to develop a team of leaders. I am often asked by participants what they can do because they are not in a position of power and have no influence over the team or organization. I reply that leadership is an ACTION not a position. Everyone can be a leader and small things can make a big difference.

A definition of leadership is one who has influence over others. We all have influence over others whether we know it or not. One person can change a team, a department or a company and it does not need to be the CEO. Anyone can do it.

Make a stand and be the person to create the team everyone wants to be on.

As Martin Luther King Jr once said ``if not you...who, if not now...when``.

Check out this video that demonstrates how one person can make a difference.