O.C. Tanner LinkedIn Live: How Recognition Lifted American Airlines During Crisis

Host/Moderator
Meghan Stettler of O.C. Tanner Institute

Guest
Beril McManus, Senior Manager of Recognition, Events, and Engagement, American Airlines

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Three years into the pandemic, the aviation industry is finally rebounding. The skies were darker in 2020 when travel restrictions and widespread anxiety caused passenger traffic to plummet by 96% (U.S. Accountability Office). But, despite the uncertainty, American Airlines chose to put its people first, using recognition to help its 100,000+ employees stay connected and feel valued.

Join Meghan Stettler, Director at the O.C. Tanner Institute, and Beril McManus, Senior Manager of Recognition, Events, and Engagement at American Airlines, as they discuss how recognition lifted the organization and kept them together in the face of adversity.

Join to Learn:

How American Airlines helped their people engage—and even thrive—in the pandemic environment
Why HR practitioners must redefine their role from operations manager to strategic change agent
How the airline achieved breakthrough results when they focused on what their employees needed most

About the Speakers

Beril McManus

Senior Manager, Recognition, Events, and Engagement, American Airlines

Beril McManus is Senior Manager of Recognition, Events and Engagement, where she oversees American's recognition and engagement strategy that works to create a culture of appreciation across the airline. She and her team work closely with leaders, vendor partners, and organizations across the company to ensure continued program improvement and success.

Previously, Beril served as a Corporate Communications Manager, where she was responsible for communication regarding engagement, community affairs, and recognition, leading the development and implementation of programs and internal communication strategies to improve employee engagement companywide.

In her more than 20 years at American, Beril has served as a brand manager, overseeing the evolution of American’s verbal identity systems; led communications, engagement efforts and organizational change management for several divisions at the airline; and worked in various frontline customer service roles. She currently lives in Fort Worth, TX with her husband and their two dogs. When she's not working or traveling, she's busy baking cakes.

Meghan Stettler

Director, O.C. Tanner Institute

As a trusted voice for the O.C. Tanner Institute, most recently via its ground-breaking COVID-19 weekly webinars, Meghan specializes in knitting together key sentiments and perspectives across the table to identify win-win strategies for workplace culture success. Throughout her career, she has forged diplomatic partnerships with countries and companies in the Middle East, the Americas, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific regions, interfacing with CEOs, energy secretaries, ambassadors, and governors.

She has also addressed over a million viewers as an award-winning journalist and producer with Al Jazeera, News 12 New York, and Network News Service, a pioneering organization serving ABC, CBS, and FOX. Meghan was recently named to the HRD Global 100, a list of the best and brightest industry leaders in HR.

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