Shifting company culture to improve employee retention and recruitment

By Emma Peterson. 

Having worked across many industries, Lisa Ryan has experienced many company cultures. She emphasizes the impact incorporating positive acknowledgements can have on a company’s culture.  

In a recent episode of CoatingsCast, Heidi J. Ellsworth spoke to Lisa Ryan, who spoke at the 2023 Roof Coating Manufacturers Association (RCMA) summer meeting about employee retention and recruitment. 

Lisa’s career as a professional speaker began as a 19-year-old data entry clerk, where she got the opportunity to take 27 weeks of Dale Carnegie courses. Dale Carnegie is a keystone to the business and professional development world, having written the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Lisa recalled, “At that point, I knew that I loved to speak, but I didn't know you could make a profession out of it. So, I went into my sales career.” In 2020 she began her career as a public speaker.  

This variety of career experience has built her into a well-rounded speaker. Heidi noted, “One of the things that I really loved about what you spoke about is that you put it towards the trades and construction, but it was also just common sense.” Lisa explained that this adaptability comes from understanding the core of what she does: helping companies keep their top talent. This is a necessity across all industries. Lisa elaborated, “There's no better time than right now in this post-pandemic economy because there's much more personalization and different expectations in the workplace.” 

Her talk at RCMA focused on acknowledging employees. She explained, “Employees are looking for personalized attention. There's no one size fits all approach anymore.” The key to this is thanking your employees when they do well. Lisa described an interaction with a person after one of her events, “They said, ‘When I do something wrong, I get recognized 100% of the time. And when I do something well, it rarely gets acknowledged.’” Lisa’s point is that when you acknowledge those wins, employees work harder and stay with your company longer, and more people want to join your company. 

Read the transcript, Listen to the podcast or Watch the video to learn more about how acknowledgement improves your employee retention and recruitment.