Consumer Products
Find the spark
How to get the most out of your employees
By Mark Scott
Smart Business Orange County | September 2008
Page 1 of 2
Renee Pepys Lowe
president and CEO, CoCaLo Inc.
Renee Pepys Lowe is all
about taking the time to
celebrate her company’s successes.
For her, as a business leader,
moments of glory are about
more than just dollars and
cents; they are about reaching
your employees and getting
them to feel the same pride for
the company that you feel.
And in that, she has succeeded. For example, one of her customer service representatives at
CoCaLo Inc. carries a box of the
company’s products in her car
so that she can present to
would-be customers at anytime.
“She is proud and passionate
the way she talks about what
she does and who she works
for,” says Lowe, founder, president and CEO of the company
that designs and manufactures
infant bedding and room decor
accessories for toddlers. “That
gives me goose bumps, and it
makes me feel so good.”
With her dedicated enthusiasm to her company and her
employees, Lowe has CoCaLo
to an average annual growth
rate of 23 percent from 2005
to 2008.
Smart Business spoke with
Lowe about how to spark your
employees’ passion to get them
engaged in their work.
Q. What is the key to
motivating employees?
Try to always be mindful of
what they enjoy doing best and
what they are great at. Find
out what they are best at and
do more of it.
It’s listening to the team — listening to what is on their plate
and what they have in their
plans. They know their job, in
many cases, better than anyone.
It’s always going back to our
business and operating plan.
It’s trying to empower them in
the right way so that it complements our direction of what
needs to be done.
Have a clear definition of
their job description so they
know what they are responsible and accountable for. Make
sure they have a clear understanding of the company and
department objectives.
The more you invest and the
more you engage with individuals, you start learning about
their background, previous
positions, their passions and
maybe what they love to do.
They could be utilized here,
they could do this or they could
contribute here. Say you are filling a position. You go
through a whole process
and go through a candidate
and look at the resume.
It’s not until you start digging deeper that you realize
that person could be
responsible for so much
more. That’s a natural stage
for growth. Most people do
want to have that opportunity for growth.
What I love most is when
I get to travel with a lot of
our employees. That is such
a treat when you get to really know someone — even
more so professionally and
personally out of that dayto-day environment [and]
you’re in a relaxed setting.
They see a leader that
cares about them, that
cares about the product and
about the business and about
the company.
Q. How do you get people
engaged in your vision?
We have a company meeting
that we do on a monthly basis.
Each of the leaders will just
talk about what’s going on in
their business. That helps keep
everyone connected.
It’s communication. What
sparks their interest is hearing
the product stories. They can
relate best to that. All of us, at
the end of the day, our end
result is hearing those stories
about how the product is selling at a retailer.
What retailer is interested in
that product? What are the
success stories? What are the
stories about a mom who just
sent a letter about the nursery? There is a consumer, a
buyer and a retailer. The spark
comes when we’re talking
about product. It’s that touch
and feel.
