When we think of loyalty, synonym words such as allegiance and fidelity come to mind. They all imply a sense of duty or a devoted attachment to something or someone. It’s important though, to understand the subtle differences. Loyalty is about sentiment and the feeling of devotion that one holds for their country, creed, family, friends, etc. Allegiance refers to a person’s duty to their country, or, by extension, an obligation to support a party, cause, leader, etc. Fidelity implies unwavering devotion and allegiance to a person, principle, etc.
This post is interested in Loyalty; the sentiment and feelings of devotion that you hold for your country, creed, family, or friends etc. More importantly, how that translates into tangible actions to support and demonstrate the loyalty.
In Martial Arts schools, it’s crucial for loyalty to exist if we’re to achieve the best results we can. That is one reason why we continually push the concept that the most important person on the mat is your training partner. If your training partner knows they can rely on you to help them succeed, they in turn should be loyal and do the same for you.
Loyalty shouldn’t be a convenient loyalty. If someone is only helping you when it’s convenient for them to do so, but disappear when its inconvenient, they are giving you a convenient loyalty. A convenient loyalty won’t build trust, because you won’t be able to rely on them when it counts. In other words, they aren’t actually loyal to you, or conversely, are more loyal to themselves and others. When this happens, it doesn’t mean the other person is a bad person. It simply means their loyalty rests elsewhere, for example themselves, their partners, children, etc.
You shouldn’t give blind loyalty. If you can’t trust the other person to be loyal to you, think very carefully before being loyal back, whether it be to an individual, business, sporting club etc. For example, if you have always been loyal to a business, but in return that business is not loyal to their old customers, preferring to give financial advantages (for example) to new customers at the expense of old customers, think seriously about your loyalty.
Equally as important, you need to always be true to yourself, meaning that you shouldn’t feel obliged to be loyal and help someone do something you don’t agree with. You can remain loyal in all other aspects, but don’t blindly support them at your own cost. Being loyal is something special and should be used wisely.
We want our students to understand loyalty and give it to each other. We want everyone to trust each other and strive to make each other succeed. Without loyalty you have no trust. Without trust, you have no functioning school.
You may ask, what does our school do to demonstrate it is loyal to its students. Simple, it does what we are doing. We aren’t continually putting our prices up. In fact, our prices haven’t increased since we opened our doors. All uniforms, clothes and equipment are sold at wholesale prices, plus the cost of postage and handling. During the COVID lockdown, we didn’t collect fees, yet ran multiple ZOOM lessons weekly at no cost.
Loyalty is not just a word. It is a demonstration of actions, that show you’re loyal. As we continually say, Loyalty is one of our four values. It is important to us and is a part of who we are.