Why Employee Recognition Matters: Commemorating National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week 2018

Remember the FIRST job you ever had? The anticipation, waiting for the phone to ring every day following your interview (if you actually had an interview), and the thrill of finally hearing “you’re hired”. Remember the excitement of your first day? Meeting new people. Having responsibility where you didn’t have it before. And lest we forget, your first paycheck! Cha-ching!

Most of you were likely teenagers when you took the plunge into the American workforce. Perhaps you worked in a supermarket, a gas station, or on a farm. Maybe you delivered newspapers (yes, at one time, people actually delivered newspapers). My first job: dishwasher and busboy at a local restaurant. That role however, while memorable, was not the one that taught me the importance of recognition, appreciation, and overall thanks when it came to being a great employer. It would be another five to six years before those lifelong lessons would be demonstrated; lessons that would ultimately shape and forge the professional beliefs I hold dear and practice today.

It was the early 90’s, and I had just started a job with a well known (now sadly defunct) consumer electronics company. I was a part-timer, working a few hours here and there to keep some money in my pocket. Having just graduated from high school and jumped right into college, a career in retail sales was by no means a long term occupational goal of mine. That my career aspirations weren’t focused on my role as a part-time retail salesperson is what made the lessons I learned about leadership and mentoring so memorable.

The store manager, John, was an extremely friendly and patient person. As I had no sales skills (or ability) whatsoever, John went out of his way to educate me on the fundamentals of retail relationship building and customer service. I have to admit, initially, much of what John said went in one ear and out the other. Again, I was in it to make a few bucks, with no real concern for what the future held. The problem with this attitude however, especially in the sales world, is that those who don’t produce quickly find themselves in jeopardy of losing their situation. While I was hired to assist during the busier months of the holiday selling season, remaining on the job after the first of the year had a lot to do with my demonstrated ability to produce during this peak retail time. Needless to say, my complacent and less than driven attitude (at the time) relative to my professional responsibilities didn’t help move my sales numbers in the right direction.

A few weeks into January, as the hectic holiday selling season drifted away, the company wide “thinning of the the herd” began. Temporary “holiday” appointees who hadn’t produced in the previous two to three months we’re being let go at a vigorous pace. There was absolutely no reason why I shouldn’t have been one of those cuts. I hadn’t put the numbers up, even with John’s continued assistance and encouragement. My attitude hadn’t changed, and I showed no real promise of progress in the new sales year. John had every right to let me go. But he didn’t.

As the weeks and months of the new year passed by, John continued to work with me. Every time I’d come in for a shift, he’d spend time talking with me, not just about the job, but about things I was doing outside of the workplace as well. He knew about my desire to become a professional firefighter, and the work I was doing at the academic level to try to reach that goal. When my new girlfriend (now my wife of 23 years— love you Honey!) would stop by to say “Hi”, John was always cordial and welcoming. To this day, I’m not sure what he saw in me, but somewhere down the line, John’s caring attitude, his mentoring, constructive criticism, and continual encouragement finally paid off. Almost like the flick of a light switch, my attitude changed. I started selling. Not only did I start selling, I started looking for ways to sell more. To be a more effective and knowledgeable sales person, I started reading books on sales, attending sales seminars and conferences, and doing anything else I could do to help hone and perfect my skill. Shortly thereafter, I became a full time employee of the store, and a few months after that, John recommended I consider entering the management training program; a recommendation I took full advantage of. I would enter and complete that program a short time later, become fully certified in all of the sales certification programs the company offered, and be given my first store management appointment the following year. By the time my career with the company was over, I had been promoted two additional times to higher volume stores, and entered the District Sales Manager training program. It was only after a new Regional Sales Manager took over and decided to postpone the DSM candidate program that I chose to leave the employ of the company. To this day, I consider my time with the company to be one of the most productive and inspirational periods of my professional life.

In the situation I just described, one person made all the difference in the world. That person was John. As I mentioned earlier, he was well within his right to terminate my employment due to a lack of sales productivity. Instead, he mentored. He encouraged. He congratulated me when I closed a big sale, and picked me up after a sale I’d been working on for some time fell apart. John was my cheering section, and I know he was proud to see me move up into sales management and become successful. I attribute a great deal of my success then, and today, to the positive feedback and reinforcement I received from him. John, you are truly a mentor and friend to me. Thank you.

Fast forward twenty five years.

As a 9–1–1 Director who has been in the emergency communications business for well over fifteen years, I want to be for my own people and team members what John was for me. I want to be a mentor, a coach, and a cheering section. I want to be able to pick my people up when they’ve taken a bad call, and congratulate them when a call they’ve handled or an assignment they’ve dispatched ends on a positive note. I want to recognize the great work my people do every day to help the citizens of our community, and the work they do to assist our first responders in providing vital emergency assistance to those in need. I want to encourage my team members to take the next step in their emergency communications careers, educating themselves in all things 9–1–1 with programs like APCO’s RPL and CPE, and NENA’s ENP and CMCP. I want to create a career path where newly appointed team members to our agency can clearly see a way to move up and make progress in their newly chosen profession. I want to promote those who want to be promoted and give them the opportunity to lead in an environment where leadership is absolutely necessary. Nationally, I want the message of mentoring, leadership, coaching, and respect to be ever present in the emergency communications profession. I want the public and first responders alike to recognize the role of the telecommunicator for what it is: a vital part of the public-safety equation throughout the United States and around the world. I want the background the majority of America’s 9–1–1 professionals operate in to be in the foreground, with our contributions as public-safety professionals clearly visible to all. I want our profession to be classified appropriately, not as a clerical position, but as a mission critical public-safety role. Our people should all be receiving the support they need when it comes to PTSD and Secondary Trauma exposure; why this isn’t happening already across the nation is a major problem we must correct as 9–1–1 leaders. Finally, I want all public-safety leaders in the 9–1–1 space to take a hard look at where the future of emergency communications is headed; talking about it in the “here and now”, and not with a “long after I’m retired” attitude.

Today is the first day of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week 2018. What does that mean? It means if you’re a public-safety leader in any capacity, you have an opportunity TODAY to publicly recognize the work of the 9–1–1 professionals in your charge. It means its not too late to do something to show your people they mean something to you and to the community they serve. Don’t take them for granted. Don’t put your feet up on the desk and let April 8–14, 2018 be just another week. Even if you have done nothing to recognize this week in years past, be the change agent for your organization this year. Be the change agent today. Be the change agent NOW!

Be a mentor, be a coach, and be the cheering section for your team. Be what John was to me. Be the force that makes a difference in the professional lives of your people.

Happy National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week 2018 to all of you who do such a great job every day! This is your week. You’ve earned it.

-DJD