Don’t Wait for HR

I’d like to introduce you to a professional acquaintance I admire quite a bit.  I met Matt Heller more than a decade ago at the educational sessions for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) Expo – a small conference at a very large sales convention. 

Matt was a speaker, at that time working for Universal Studios in their training department, and I enjoyed both his style of presentation (upbeat and higher energy) and the content (understand your team and treat them like THEY want to be treated).  Over the years, Matt and I have attended each other’s conference sessions, and I always find them enjoyable and worth recommending to others.

A few years ago, Matt started his own consulting firm, Performance Optimist Consulting (https://performanceoptimist.com), where he focuses on improving operations (where front-line workers interact with customers and guests) – from the top of the organization all the way out the door.  He is an expert in employee motivation, in training front-line staff and their supervisors, and in customer service.  I still enjoy attending his conference sessions and refer him to clients when there is a good fit.  Matt has a newsletter as well as a podcast (for the attractions industry specifically) where he is a regular co-host.  You might want to check him/them out.

This week, I received Matt’s newsletter, and it really struck a chord with me:

I used to work in HR.  I liked working in HR.  I know most of the people who dedicate their lives to HR are caring individuals trying to help their teams and organizations grow, not the policy-police overlords you read about.

That said, you SHOULD NOT wait on HR to recognize your employees and show that you care.  You can do that anytime and anywhere… for FREE!!

So yes, this will be my second post in a few days that deals with employee appreciation.  Why? Because literally the day after [my first post], I spoke to another manager (from a different company) about virtually the same topic.  As we talked about how he was going to personally recognize and acknowledge his team, he said, “I’ll see what HR has in terms of scratch offs or recognition cards.”

And this is when I said, “Don’t wait for HR.”

I couldn’t agree more!  I could speak for hours about the importance of recognition (you want your good people to stay, right?) and how to do it (tell them! and do it regularly, in many ways).  Learn more about what Matt has to say here.

And you can check out his first post on staff appreciation here.