Eva Tolman-Brown is an HR Generalist with Human Resources. Her responsibilities include coordinating onboarding, training, benefits administration, and providing consultative support to the staff here at The Arc of Opportunity. Last year the Human Resources department structure changed to two full-time HR Generalist. The goal was to reduce the silo in our functions and have dedicated HR professionals who could provide more presence at the program level. Well, when one of the staff gave their notice of resignation, Eva suddenly found herself having to manage the day-to-day HR responsibility for her area as well as pick up work left by the other person. Eva fully Embraced this change and stepped up to fill the void left in the department. I am sure the workload has made for some stressful situations at times, yet Eva has continued to Deliver Legendary Service.
One day Eva’s phone rang and she answered like she normally does. However, this was not a normal call. She was not talking to a happy customer. In the early moments of the call, it became clear to me that this was not your regular conversation. At one point I could hear Eva say, “I want to help you, but it’s hard to understand what your concerns are when you are yelling at me,” as she attempted to calm the caller down. I refrained from stepping in at this point, because as challenging as the conversation seemed, Eva responded professionally as if she was channeling the fundamentals of Treat People with Dignity and Practice the Human Touch with each word she uttered.
Throughout this difficult conversation, Eva never once mentioned the name of the caller. I listened for clues to help figure out who was on the other end of the call, but nothing. Then I realized Eva did this intentionally to Respect Confidentiality. See, when your office is a cubicle and you work in HR, you find ways to manage phone conversations in a confidential manner.
After the call, Eva calmly walked into my office and asked if I had time to meet with her to discuss a call she just had. I said yes, Eva turned on the sound machine, closed the door, and sat down. Now, at this point, you would expect to hear frustration or even a comment like, “I refuse to be spoken to like that again.” However, this was not the case, Eva simply proceeded to debrief me on the specifics of the call and the steps she had taken to resolve the caller’s concerns. She then asked for feedback on her resolution to the caller’s concerns. Not only had she managed the call professionally, she Listened Generously to the caller's concerns, determined the root cause of the issue, reached the perfect resolution for the caller, and then updated her manager on the matter, and asked for coaching on how she did. Textbook employee relations work, and one of several examples of Eva Taking Ownership and Being Relentless About Improvement for herself and the HR Department.
It is with great pleasure that I respectfully submit this nomination for Eva Tolman-Brown to be recognized as The Way of The Arc Champion for the month of August.