Business Culture and Recognition

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Jack Daly (www.JackDaly.net) and listening to him speak about the importance of culture to the overall success of a business. Jack is a well known presenter and business coach, whose passion shines through when he presents. As you can imagine not too far into the culture conversation Jack digs into recognition and the impact that has had on the people and businesses he's built over his career.

Jack talked about a number of different aspects of recognition, two of those I want to share with you.
* Handwritten Notes - Jack preached the value of the handwritten note as loud as anyone I've heard. He then backed it up with how he used this form of communication to connect with people. You see when Jack was building his businesses, he had the personal objective of handwriting 100 notes every month and he had his Administrative Assistant monitor it and give him updates throughout the month to help him meet his objectives. He also made it a priority. If he was traveling which he does frequently, he'd wait to crack into his laptop until the handwritten notes for the day were done because he knew if he started with laptop, he'd never leave the laptop.
* First Day Celebrations - I've never seen a guy more adamantly opposed to parties for people leaving the organization then Jack and his rationale is sound. His feelings are that the time to celebrate people starts day one of their employment and you should keep that momentum going throughout time with your organization. That first day celebration sets the tone for a productive relationship.

Jack is an engaging and passionate speaker whose presentations have "real meat on the bone." When I got back to the office from his presentation I put him together a Terryberry care package with our Recognize Me Performance Pack and some information on our New Hire Recognition Survey (www.terryberry.com/tools ). Now I've got to see if I can match his 100 handwritten notes per month.

Wish me luck!