By Pablo Rajczyk, HR Business Administrative Associate
As the Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, Robert Crouch’s duties are numerous and wide-ranging in scope, from the specific to the over-arching. Whether it’s in a face-to-face meeting or developing campus-wide human resource strategies, he brings the same set of principles to bear: integrity, respect and fairness.
It becomes conspicuously obvious after only a few minutes of conversation that the two biggest influences in his life are his mother and father. “My parents instilled in me a strong work ethic and a positive moral character,” he says. This was more than just parental advice; they modeled this behavior in their interactions with those they just met and life-long friends.
From a very young age Robert never shied away from hard work, doing yard work and landscaping for families in his community in northwestern Missouri. Even when faced with the pressing appointments of little league games when he was only 10 years-old, his mother would ask him if he’d “taken care of his customers first.”
“I’ve always endeavored to make a difference,” he says. His personal mantra is that he “wants to leave things better than I found them.” This has manifested itself throughout his personal and professional life. He is a godparent to 20 young men and women, actively mentoring them at every opportunity. His sense of caring is evident when he discusses his goals to add a customer service emphasis to UIC Human Resources and become a model HR organization among public institutions.
The best way to achieve these goals (along with hard work, of course) is through a structure of communication. Either through one-on-one sessions, seminars, or town hall meetings, Robert consistently emphasizes that the way for everyone involved to gain a greater understanding of the University’s concerns and issues is through open and honest communication.
Challenges are omnipresent. Internal pressures and external factors abound. Rising to a higher level is never easy. But for significant, measurable progress to be made, these challenges must be met head on, individually and collaboratively, in a way that channels effort into forward movement.
An effective HR manager possesses a wide range of competencies: business acumen, organizational development, performance management, empathy, and the ability to develop meaningful partnerships, all of which he has honed during his 25 years of public-sector HR work. Trust and empowerment are the most effective ways to ‘get things done,’ he says. His managerial emphasis is on helping others realize their worth, not only as employees, but as individuals. Helping people recognize their value is more inspiring than heavy-handedness. It’s all too easy to see a co-worker’s title as their defining professional characteristic. But it’s the person in that position that matters most.
It’s apparent why he has earned multiple awards for his leadership, diversity and the overall quality of his work. His list of professional accomplishments is impressive, but it all hinges on the relationships he builds with employees and stakeholders. He has changed locations during his professional career, but, he says, “My craft remains the same.”
In life we meet many people, but meaningful relationships can only be maintained through consistent, positive interaction. How long you’ve known someone says something important, but it’s how faithful you are to people that determines the real depth of your relationship.