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Writing on the wall

Best practices: Inspiring employees

Man stands against wall bearing motivational message
Fort Wayne, IN, Processing and Distribution Center Maintenance Supervisor John Kennerk provides employees with motivational messages.

John Kennerk knows that words matter.

This is why the Fort Wayne, IN, Processing and Distribution Center maintenance supervisor has placed motivational messages on the walls of his workplace.

“The employees tell me they like them, and it also encourages them to walk further down the hallway, get engaged and start talking to the people in the offices,” Kennerk says.

He got the idea after Martin Hunnicutt, the processing and distribution center’s manager, updated the facility’s training room with a wall decal that featured a quote from the first Postmaster General, Benjamin Franklin: “Well done is better than well said.”

With Hunnicutt’s permission, Kennerk began placing other wall decals around the workplace.

He strives to come up with the appropriate message for each location. For example, over a door that leads to the workroom floor, Kennerk placed a decal that reads: “Get up, dress up, show up and never give up.”

The messages align with the Postal Service’s efforts to engage, equip and empower its workforce, a core strategy.

In addition to inspiring employees, Kennerk, who joined USPS in 1991, hopes the messages will help the organization’s recruitment efforts.

“I want brand-new employees to be able to read them as they come here to interview, and see that it’s a happy place to work,” he says.

“Best practices,” a series on employees who demonstrate on-the-job excellence, appears regularly in Link.

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