Coherence and loyalty

Coherence, the quality of forming a unified whole, is about our actions matching what we think and what we say.

Pablo Ferreiro and Manuel Alcazar, in their book Managing People, refer to lack of coherence as disloyalty. Although it's obvious, the term disloyalty gave me a new light on the concept: lack of coherence always has an effect on other people.

Disloyalty. This is the attitude of an individual whose actions do not match his words. Even when truth and veracity exist, action is neutralized. In these cases, the problem is not communication but motivation: the disloyal person knows what he is doing but chooses to continue. This is particularly serious in the case of managers because their disloyal actions are more eloquent than their words and compromise any good communication that may exist in the organization. Unity1 is rapidly destroyed2.

1. Unity can be loosely defined as the bond of trust and motivation among the members of the organization that makes them willingly go the extra mile for both those members and to exceed the expectations of the organization.↩

2. Garcia, Manuel Alcazar; Pablo Ferreiro de Babot. Managing People, Kindle Edition, Locations 4208-4212. The quote in Gobierno de Personas, the Spanish edition of the book, reflects better the idea: "Deslealtad: Es la actitud de quien no es fiel en sus acciones a la palabra dada. Aunque haya verdad y veracidad, la acción se torna estéril. En estos casos el problema no es la comunicación sino la motivación: el desleal sabe, pero no quiere. Es especialmente grave en el caso de personas con mando, porque sus acciones desleales resultan más elocuentes que sus palabras y contradicen toda la buena comunicación que pueda haber en la organización. La unidad se destruye de modo acelerado."↩