Market Director learns sign language message to deliver good news to associate who is hearing impaired
Recognizing the great work of associates is not an uncommon practice for Lowe’s store managers across the company. But it’s not always captured on camera.
But Justin Lopez, a Lowe’s market director, made sure it was captured when it came to recognizing one of his associates who recently won an award. Alan Brown, the associate being recognized, is hearing impaired. During an award presentation for the winning associates, Lopez wanted to be sure Brown understood exactly what was happening and that he had won. So, Lopez decided to tell Brown in the way he would understand it best: sign language.
Brown could not be at the store the day of the award presentation, but that didn’t stop Lopez from delivering the message all the same. He had another associate record his sign language message of congratulations to Brown. Lopez also had an interpreter at the store to sign the entire presentation on camera so Brown could watch it back later.
To top it all off, Justin got the rest of the store team involved by showing them the sign language sign for ‘applause’, so they too could congratulate Brown on video. To Lopez, this small gesture was just one way of making a difference in Brown’s day.
“It was just about providing a connection so he could feel a little bit more at home,” Lopez said.
When Brown was back to work and could watch the video, his reaction was exactly what Lopez hoped it would be.
“He was super excited,” Lopez said. “You could see it on his face and you could just tell he was excited.”
Want to see the video-message to Brown? Check it out below:
