Heroes of the Hound: Melton Truck Lines

WorkHound Customer Q&A

Sometimes the idea of collecting feedback comes with the concern that all of the responses will be negative. Companies may be hesitant to ask for feedback because they believe the responses will be innately negative. That’s not the case for Melton Truck Lines.

But with years of collecting driver feedback under our belt at WorkHound, we know that’s simply not true. While driver insights aren’t always positive, there’s a good bit of praise mixed in.

That’s something that Matthew Kennedy, Employee Experience Manager for Melton Truck Lines, knows to be true. Kennedy recently joined us for a webinar about shining a light on happy drivers and why that’s so important.

So, today, we’re shining a light on him. Read on for his insights about turning positive feedback into an overarching positivity for your company.

WorkHound: How often do you use positive feedback in your business?

Kennedy: All of the time. As often as possible. There’s never a bad time to share praise and kudos. So often, we get caught up in the negative, where people feel forgotten.

Even a small amount of praise can change the way someone’s day is going; it can change their outlook on a company.

I almost think that sharing feedback in a timely manner is as important as sharing positivity often. As soon as you hear of something great happening, that needs to be shared with the people who were involved. Waiting a month to share a positive makes it lose some of its power — some of what makes it special.

WorkHound: How has positive feedback surprised or informed you?

Kennedy: The informed part is really what’s been great for us. We want to know what we’re doing well so that we continue to do that or grow some of those aspects of our business.

What’s been surprising to me is that it’s often the little things that drivers have really positive feedback about. Things that maybe we didn’t think were the most important, but they do matter. For instance, our leadership team writes handwritten cards to our drivers on their anniversaries. I can’t tell you how often we hear back from drivers who are amazed that the CEO wrote them a card.

We have found that it’s the little things that matter to people and make a work environment special to them.

WorkHound: What are some impactful ways to tell the good stories about what’s happening at Melton?

Kennedy: First off, it needs to be kinda personal. Get the people who were involved on the phone and share praise. The person who delivers that message should vary. Sometimes it should be your leadership team, someone like your VP of Safety, because everyone likes to hear praise from a high level.

Once you get beyond that personal thanks and appreciation, I think it needs to be shared on a pretty wide scale…to the entire organization, to the entire fleet. We love to put stuff on our social media or in our internal communications or newsletters. We have an entire section in our newsletter devoted to kudos.

Beyond that, you need to look for ways to recognize folks on a national level. We’re always looking into what awards we can nominate our drivers for. We want our people recognized in the industry as a whole. We want to get the most recognition and appreciation we can on every level — get that positive feeling out there as much as possible.

Melton Truck Lines is part of a community of carriers that utilize continuous and anonymous driver feedback to help understand areas of priority and praise for their essential workforce. Want to put this into action for your company? Reach out to WorkHound today to talk with an expert.