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What You’ll Learn
Shelly Hansel, public relations director at SCTelcom, discusses creative ways cooperatives can incentivize employees and strengthen company culture. From referral bonuses to “Going the Extra Mile” awards and even monthly half-days off, Shelly shares how recognition, trust and leadership at every level help build a team of people who want to stay at the company for decades.
Guest Speaker
Shelly Hansel
Show Notes
Transcripts are lightly edited for clarity and readability.
Intro: StoryConnect, a Pioneer podcast, helps you discover ideas to shape your stories and connect with your community. Love this episode? Follow StoryConnect on your favorite podcast platform and YouTube so you don’t miss your next great idea.
Andy Johns: What are some ways that telcos are incentivizing employees? That’s what we’ll be talking about on this episode of The StoryConnect Podcast. I’m joined on this episode by Shelly Hansel, who is the public and government relations director at SCTelcom. Shelly, thank you so much for joining me.
Shelly Hansel: Andy. You know, this is a highlight of my life is to be on this podcast.
Andy Johns: Well, I appreciate that. It’s certainly a highlight of the week here at the Calix ConneXions Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Shelly Hansel: Yep.
Andy Johns: We are here on day one. Shelly was nice enough to take a little bit of time off of the rest of the conference to come record with me because you are in a session later talking about employee incentives.
Shelly Hansel: Well, much like this podcast, I lobby really hard to get speaking positions.
Andy Johns: All right. There you go.
Shelly Hansel: No. It’s called “The Secret Sauce to Employ Retention.” And I think the reason that I was picked for that, because I do talk about leadership a lot. And our leadership team at SCTelcom, we are very, very big on culture and making sure that everybody feels included.
Andy Johns: And I think that’s really important to talk about, because when I saw the topic included in employee incentives, my mind went to sales incentives. And we’ve had podcasts before about ways that folks get, you know, gift cards or bonuses, whatever, if they help to sell or help with sales. But what you guys are doing, you’re incentivizing not just that, but any number of things that contribute to the culture and the overall operations of SCTelcom. Tell me a little bit about the kind of things that y’all are trying to promote and increase with these incentives.
Shelly Hansel: Well, one of the things and I was fortunately just the receiver of this is, you know, we want good, positive, uplifting people on our team. And that doesn’t matter if you’re a CRS, the janitor or whoever that is. We want good, positive people to be on our team. And so when our CEO said, “Hey, we need to fill this position,” and it was more of like an IT, but it’s going to morph into like a business support position. And so I had a friend who was from my hometown who I know had had his own IT business. He had worked for the government. He had so much expertise when it came to that kind of thing. And he’s a nice guy.
Andy Johns: Right?
Shelly Hansel: You know, and so I suggested that we at least take a look at him. He came in, interviewed Carla was, and, you know, at first, even to get him through the door, Carla was like, “I don’t know. I don’t know.” I’m like, “Carla, trust me on this one. I would not lead you astray.”
Andy Johns: Carla, being your CEO.
Shelly Hansel: He shows up, blew her socks off, and now he’s on our team. And so because of that, because I knew he would be a good fit on our team. And I wanted him on the team regardless of whatever kind of incentive I got. But I got 500 extra dollars. Woot woot.
Andy Johns: Hey, that’ll work here in Vegas.
Shelly Hansel: And I did not share it with the guy that I got a job for.
Andy Johns: And if he listens now, he’ll know.
Shelly Hansel: Sorry Chase, I’ve already spent it.
Andy Johns: And I think that’s important because obviously they’ve got to have the knowledge. They’ve got to have the hard skills. Yeah, but those soft skills and fitting into the team is so important. So you guys are doing that basically if somebody finds a candidate who becomes an employee, that’s one way to incentivize folks.
Shelly Hansel: Absolutely. And I didn’t even, to be honest, I didn’t even know that that was a thing until after our HR person said, “Hey, by the way, you’re going to get some money because we hired Chase.” And I’m like, “Oh, cool.” But my objective was just to get a good person who I know is going to fit with our team. And I think, you know, and that could be anybody on our team. If they know somebody that they think, you know, shares our brand values of, you know, being putting the customer first and being compassionate and honest and open and all of that kind of stuff, then we want them on our team.
Andy Johns: Sure.
Shelly Hansel: Yeah.
Andy Johns: You know, it’s almost cliche, and I forget if it was The Office or a couple of the shows out there that have made fun of the infamous office pizza party. You know, if everybody does this, then we’ll have a pizza party. What are some other ways that either y’all or you’re seeing other folks do, incentives for folks to make sure that they are recognizing good work and good people?
Shelly Hansel: So we have something called the GEM Award, the “Going the Extra Mile.”
Andy Johns: G-E-M. All right.
Shelly Hansel: Did not come up with that. Cannot take any credit. But what it is is it’s just a way to recognize those employees. And again, no matter what level they’re working at, no matter what, who they are, it’s really based on what they do. And if they get a special shout out from a customer or, you know, or if you see that person going the extra mile for a customer or for whoever, then you can nominate them. And then every month at our employee meeting, that person gets recognized. And then I think they get a prize. Unfortunately, I’ve never gotten the GEM Award.
Andy Johns: Well, it’s always good to still have something to work for.
Shelly Hansel: Right, right. I mean, you know, this is a bucket list being on this podcast. And so now, you know, I’ve got to put getting the gym award on my checklist of goals. But the other thing that we do, and we just started this is in every office because we have three locations. We have an office where our headquarters is, which is in Medicine Lodge, Kansas. Very cool. Kiowa, and then, Anthony, which is where I office out of. But we have boards now up that just, if, you know, like last week I think Wendy helped, out Wendy our marketing person, helped another person do a small task, but it was still, she went above and beyond, which is another one of our, you know, our company values. And she helped somebody that that was not it was not part of her job description. But that doesn’t matter at SCTelcom, if you see somebody that needs help and you go and help them, then that’s the kind of things. You know may not be worthy of the full GEM award, but it was noticed. And that person that Wendy helped really appreciated that. And so she got to go on the brag board, or I’m not even sure what we’re calling it.
Andy Johns: Right. But it’s up there.
Shelly Hansel: Yeah, it’s brand new. So we’re excited about that.
Andy Johns: This is something interesting I know you and I have talked about in other spots before, but you’ve got multi-generations working at SCTelcom, just like a lot of companies.
Shelly Hansel: Yeah.
Andy Johns: Are you finding when you look at this the different generations of employees, are they looking for different things in terms of incentives? I mean, there was talk for a little while that, you know, Gen Z and the millennials, especially Gen Z, was just straight, you know, straight cash homie, show me the money. That’s what I want.
Shelly Hansel: Right.
Andy Johns: Recognition for other generations maybe different. Are you seeing any of that, or have you noticed that people receive it, or different incentives mean different things to different generations at the co-op?
Shelly Hansel: Absolutely. So, you know, we’ve been around since 1950 something, 53, 51 anyway. But and so we have employees that have been with our company for a long time.
Andy Johns: Right.
Shelly Hansel: And they usually, when we hire somebody or when somebody starts at SCTelcom, they usually retire. Like we’ve got a gal that’s getting ready to retire at the end of this year. And I think she’s been with SCTelcom for at least 20 years.
Andy Johns: Wow.
Shelly Hansel: And so we do.
Andy Johns: Very stable.
Shelly Hansel: Absolutely. It’s just a great place to work. And I’m bragging, but it’s also the truth. But one of the things that I think bridges the gap of an incentive that we do is, so I mentioned our employee meetings, they’re monthly. And you know, every month, it’s on a Friday. Everybody has to be there at 8:30. It usually lasts for like an hour and a half. Sometimes we do breakfast before sometimes, you know, whatever. But after that employee meeting is over, we all get the rest of the day off.
Andy Johns: Oh.
Shelly Hansel: But we get to count a full day of work. And what what Carla, our CEO and our leadership team realize is that all of us need time to reset, refresh.
Andy Johns: Sure.
Shelly Hansel: And so that, we’re already shut down our offices for that employee meeting so that everybody can attend the employee meeting. So we just go ahead and shut down all of the offices for the rest of the day. And so I guarantee you that those of our millennials, our GenZers, including and then all the way up to our great employees that have been there forever, appreciate that. Because you know, when you work an 8 to 5 during the week, I mean, you have your lunch hour, and we’re not real sticklers about you got to be here. But a lot of them are that dedicated. And so to have that one day that, you know, you can plan, you know, dental appointments or hair appointments, clearly I need to do one of those soon, but it’s just a great. And/or just do nothing.
Andy Johns: Sure.
Shelly Hansel: You know.
Andy Johns: Take some time for yourself, yeah.
Shelly Hansel: I mean, I’m a busy mom of three. I unfortunately usually go home and do laundry.
Andy Johns: Right?
Shelly Hansel: It’s not pretty, but yeah, it’s just nice because that type of incentive just shows that, hey, you’re valued. And we understand that this work is intense, and we know you’re giving us 110 the days that you’re here. So we’re going to give a little bit of that back.
Andy Johns: So let’s talk through the mechanics of that a little bit. It’s all three, all three offices and everybody comes to one office, or you’re doing some of it virtual or?
Shelly Hansel: Sometimes it’s virtual. Like when we, so every quarter I think it is, we have an actual in-person, everybody’s got it. All hands on deck, in-person. And that also is a little bit longer, comes with lunch. Like we just had one this past week I guess, it was, oh my goodness, it was Friday.
Andy Johns: Yeah. Right. Only a couple days ago.
Shelly Hansel: Anyway. And, you know, so those of us who are going to be traveling, I mean, we could put in a special request. Hey, I’m going to be leaving on Friday, or I’m, you know, whatever. So, if you have a special circumstance, you can get out of being there in-person. But if you can be there in-person, you should be there in-person. But our monthlies that are shorter, the CSRs usually just join in remotely because they’ve all got, well, we all have tablets and whatnot or laptops or whatever. But if you can be there in-person, we want you to be there in-person. But it’s not expected all the time.
Andy Johns: Sure. And the customers, the members, they seem to understand, and they’re okay with the office being closed one day a month?
Shelly Hansel: Yeah, we usually post it on social media several days ahead. Like if you need to do any business with us, please, you know, do that before Friday because we have our all employee meeting and our offices will be closed. But we also always have somebody on call.
Andy Johns: Okay.
Shelly Hansel: I mean, if the, and this doesn’t happen often, but if we went down for some reason on that day, you know, we would switch to let’s get everybody back on and everybody would start working. But typically we, you know, we’re that good. We don’t have to worry about those things.
Andy Johns: Well, I imagine you make sure not to schedule that on the day that the bills are due or something like that.
Shelly Hansel: Absolutely. Yeah.
Andy Johns: A little bit of strategic planning.
Shelly Hansel: Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
Andy Johns: Yeah. One of the other topics I wanted to get to, because this is something that I know is a passion of yours, both inside work and outside of work is leadership. And the idea that leadership, part of what this incentive program does is it allows for folks to be leaders, regardless of what the job title or job description says. So tell me a little bit about the way, because I know this is something you think about, talk about often. Tell me a little bit about more of that and how this, you know, how an incentive program promotes that.
Shelly Hansel: Absolutely. So prior to me joining SCTelcom, and actually I continue to do it to this day, I have worked at the Kansas Leadership Center, which is a wonderful organization that thinks about leadership in a very different way. One of our values or principles is that leadership is an activity, not a position.
Andy Johns: I like that. It is an activity, not a position.
Shelly Hansel: Position. So really, we recognize that regardless of what your title is, you can be the CEO of your company, but that doesn’t make you a good leader.
Andy Johns: True.
Shelly Hansel: What you do every day makes you a good leader. And the other thing that we that the Kansas Leadership Center really preaches is that we can be leaders on days, and then other days not be great leaders. So there’s not the pressure to think that, “Okay, I’ve now been given this title. I’m going to have to exercise.”
Andy Johns: Have to be perfect.
Shelly Hansel: I’m going to have to be perfect. You can exercise leadership at so many different levels, and you don’t have to be perfect at it. We’re all not going to be, but I’m really fortunate because I get to teach a leadership program for adults in our communities that we serve. And it’s been really good because it not only helps with my public relations, because a lot of the people that take our leadership program, because Carla, when she hired me, our CEO, I told her, I said, you know, this is a passion of mine, and I want to continue to do this. She’s like, absolutely. And she has been nothing but supportive. I mean, we obviously get to show our, that we’re really invested in our communities by leading these leadership programs. And I give an example, one day I went to a school and I walked into the office. I saw the principal. I saw the, you know, different administrators, and I needed help with some equipment that I was going to be using at the school that day to do a presentation. And I kept saying, you know, can somebody come help me? And they were all too busy.
Shelly Hansel: They were too busy to help this guest figure out what she needed to do. So I went back to the equipment, very frustrated. And one of the janitors came along and I said, and he’s like, “Is everything okay?” And I said, “No.” I said, “I’m not sure.” I mean, just because I work at SCTelcom does not make me a technical person. And I was I said, “I’m having trouble with this equipment. I’m not really understanding what all I need to do.” He jumped right in, helped me get everything up and running. And so that day, that janitor was the best leader, in my opinion, in that school. Because he was willing to go above and beyond. He didn’t care that he was the janitor, the whatever, the teacher, the whatever. He jumped in and did what he needed to do to help somebody that was a guest in their building. And I really believe that we all have days when we can be that leader that makes a difference in somebody else’s lives.
Andy Johns: Yeah. What do you think that comes from, the idea of that job title being, you know, you’re a leader and you are not? You know, has that been around forever? Or is that something that that, you know, obviously you’re working to kind of change that idea? Is it just easier that way? I mean, where does that come from?
Shelly Hansel: Well, I think there’s two schools of thought. I think that we have to understand the difference between an authority figure and a leader.
Andy Johns: Oh.
Shelly Hansel: So leaders put their words into action, and authorities are there for protection, direction, and order. So a police officer would be an authority. And unfortunately, in the news, we see police officers that don’t always use their authority in a positive way and do not exercise good leadership. And you could say the same for our politicians.
Andy Johns: Or a lot of different positions, but sure, sure, yeah.
Shelly Hansel: Okay. You know, so there’s a huge difference and we teach that, that you can be a leader without having any kind of authority. You know, anyone can lead any time, anywhere. And you’re like, you know, okay. What does that mean? Well, think about it. When a natural disaster, like a flood or a tornado or any of those horrible things happen in our communities, it’s, you know, the authorities themselves are scrambling to try and get the things like the utilities and all that stuff up and running. But who are the people, the boots on the ground that go and actually help and pick up the pieces of those people’s shattered lives. It’s the average Joe next door, or the volunteer that came from another town because their town had been hit by a tornado. It’s not anybody with a title or a position now.
Andy Johns: And one other thing, and this will be about the last thing we talk about, but I was talking to somebody, a CEO who came by today talking about how they’re working really hard to get ideas from the kind of frontline folks, the MSRs or CSRs, the folks that are out there, the techs, the people actually working with the customers on a regular basis. So this is something by getting that leadership from anywhere, I mean, that’s the way to help those ideas kind of bubble up the org chart to the decision makers.
Shelly Hansel: Well, absolutely. And one of the things that I think SCTelcom and our management or leadership team, whichever you want to call it, do is we do not believe in micromanaging. If we have hired the right person for that job, then we should have the confidence and the trust that that person is going to do what’s best in that position.
Andy Johns: Okay.
Shelly Hansel: We have had, you know, some situations where, you know, that person wasn’t doing the best. And obviously that gets addressed, but there has to be a trust from the top down that we trust that you value the customer as much as we value the customer. And I think Andy, being in a small town where we are serving our friends, our neighbors, our families, you know, and so we know that that is reflected in how we serve the communities we serve. You know, my son is on the football team at one of our high schools that’s in our area. We just put SmartTown, which is a Calix thing that is free public Wi-Fi so that when you know, everybody’s at the football game, you all can get a signal. And this has actually come in handy for one of our other schools, their gym, when they had emergency responders, first responders going into the building, they were not getting a signal inside the building. So we put SmartTown Wi-Fi in their gym and in that big building. And we’ve had multiple first responders say, I can now go watch my kid play basketball or wrestle or whatever they do inside the gym, and not worry that I’m going to miss a call. And so, it’s just – so Charles Koch, you know, is from Wichita. His family, the Koch family, but one of their hiring practices is you hire people that have good values, good morals, good work ethic, because you can always teach the technical stuff, but you don’t teach morals, values, work ethic, integrity and the way you want people to be treated.
Andy Johns: Sure, makes a lot of sense.
Shelly Hansel: Yeah.
Andy Johns: Last thing I have for you, and this is where we end most episodes, but if somebody is listening to this and they’re thinking, “These sound like great ideas. I like this, maybe we can do something about these incentives.” What advice do you have to them about getting started? Or where can folks, if they’re not doing anything like this, but they’re, “Man, I wish we had this going on.” What’s your advice on where they could they could get started with kind of building that culture and offering some of those incentives?
Shelly Hansel: Well, you are certainly welcome to call me at SCTelcom anytime. Shelly Hansel, SCTelcom, just Google it. Or, you know, should I give my phone number, or is that too crazy?
Andy Johns: We can put your email in the show notes if you want.
Shelly Hansel: Okay, that’ll be good. Because, you know, I don’t want everybody having my phone number, but it’s written on most bathroom walls. But I would be more than happy. But, you know, the Kansas Leadership Center, especially if leadership, that kind of thing, is important to you. Again, they are based in Wichita, but this is a leadership center that serves people in Australia and all over the country. They have a tremendous magazine that they put out every month called “The Journal.” And it also talks about, you know, some of the more controversial issues that plague our communities, such as, you know, housing. They just did a great article on housing, which is a huge problem in Kansas. And I think, you know, some places are also struggling with that. But so the Kansas Leadership Center, and that’s all you have to Google there. But, I think you just need to think like your customers. How do, I mean, I always used to tell my kids, you know, the golden rule, you treat others the way you want to be treated. And that not only includes your your customer, your subscribers, but that includes your employees that you need to, you need to be treating them how you want to be treated. And if that answer is not necessarily anything you can be proud of, then maybe, you know, let’s reevaluate that.
Andy Johns: Definitely, definitely. Leadership is needed all over the place, like you said, all the other industries we mentioned, but also here in the rural broadband space. So, Shelly, I appreciate you sharing those ideas with us.
Shelly Hansel: Andy, I’m telling you, this is a bucket list. I can now be a happy girl for the rest of the conference and my life.
Andy Johns: We’ll take it. She is Shelly Hansel, the public and government relations director at SCTelcom. I’m your host, Andy Johns with Pioneer. And until we talk again, keep telling your story.
Outro: StoryConnect is a production of Pioneer Utility Resources. Send questions to hello@pioneers.coop, and learn more about our member owned marketing agency at pioneer.coop.