Loyalty in Workplace

Everyone has different motivations at work. You have to define what yours is, and where your loyalties are - and depending on the position, that decision may come sooner rather than later. If you are an analyst (Business Analyst, Project Lead, Project Manager, Systems Analyst, Developer, DBA etc. fall in this category), it is easier to lay low and out of the lime lite. There may be some jockeying, some power plays, but mostly you are protected by the fact that your management is doing enough of that. You may be a casualty of war, but not necessarily the general or even a soldier. This quickly disappears as you start rising through the ranks and enter the middle-tier management, or the senior management roles. Even if you are on the outskirts of a conflict, being in those positions will force you to eventually get roped in - and that's because your word matters. When you say something, people act or react. The power you hold allows you no flexibility but to force-choose a side.

So when you are surrounded by this type of environment, where should your loyalties be? Who should you be "in bed with"? Is it the camp that is portraying itself to be the next successor? Is it the camp that is projecting they have the ultimate upper hand? Is it the camp that seems to have alignment with their superiors? Is it the camp... you get the idea. There are so many damn camps sometimes, that its even hard to choose.

Ultimately, your loyalty should be to your work and to your work ethic. There is no person, no leader, no department and no single entity or being that represents your "work" wholly and solely. Your "work", be it operational, be it BD, or Sales or any other area within the organization is represented by executing on the vision of the company you are with. The vision is abstract, and hence has an entity of its own. The vision can change, and so should your strategy and approach to execute on the newly defined vision. This defines your work ethic.