Former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Lee Roy Selmon is using his soft-spoken voice to promote respect.
College basketball analyst and Lakewood Ranch resident Dick Vitale is using his booming voice to preach positive thinking.
Both Hall of Famers are among notable celebrities lending their image to support a community-wide campaign that aims to build friendlier and more caring workplaces, communities and schools.
The campaign called Because It Matters is a reintroduction, of sorts, to good manners in the workplace. It encourages businesses, schools and community organizations to practice 10 keys of civility.
The keys to civility touch on subjects such as respecting others, thinking positively, speaking kindly, saying thank you and listening.
“This is stepping back and remembering the basics on treating people with respect,” said Wendy Deming, chief of staff for the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice.
The foundation developed Because It Matters in October 2007 after a study it conducted showed social interactions among diverse groups in Sarasota County was poor.
The campaign allows businesses, schools and community organizations to register with Because It Matters to begin a civility program in the workplace. The program is based on the keys of civility, and volunteers with the campaign help the organization get the program started and keep it going.
When the foundation started in 2007, Deming said about 30 businesses signed up to become “workplaces committed to civility” in the campaign’s first three to four months.
Because It Matters now has 62 businesses registered as workplaces committed to civility. A majority of them are in Sarasota and Manatee counties, but the campaign isn’t limited to this area. Several businesses from California, Georgia and the Midwest have registered, and one from Koror, Palau, the Palau Public Utilities Corp.
“We had no idea this campaign would reach that far,” Deming said. “But wherever this program can help improve civility, it is just a wonderful opportunity for it to do so.”
The foundation has gotten Selmon, Vitale, pro golfer Mark O’Meara and tennis pro Martina Navratilova to support the project by recording promotional videos promoting the keys to civility on the Web site, becauseitmatters.net.
Vitale’s video promotes positive thinking.
“Let me tell you this,” Vitale exclaims in the video, “You better think positively because it matters.”
Selmon, meanwhile, promotes respect in the workplace.
“Off the field and in my restaurant business, I listen to others,” Selmon says. “Respect others because it matters.”
At First American Title Insurance Co. in Bradenton, the keys to civility are found on employees’ desks.
Angela Balsinger, marketing representative, said the campaign has been a good fit for the company that coordinates refinancing and purchasing of real estate.
“We’re on the phone all day long with consumers as well as with Realtors, banks and so on,” Balsinger said. “So we definitely have to demonstrate civility.”
Balsinger said the company has seen improvements among its employees in customer service.
“We all have to work together on each file to get to the closing table so with our customers you definitely have to be patient and be kind and be understanding when working with so many people,” Balsinger said. “It’s definitely helped.”
Tervis Tumbler implemented the Because It Matters program in the workplace in 2008.
Maureen Altmann, human resources generalist, said practicing the keys to civility has developed a competitive nature among employees.
Tervis Tumbler had a trophy made that is awarded to an employee once a month for practicing one of the keys to civility.
“It’s a real feel good type of program,” Altmann said. “It makes people stop and appreciate what other people are doing. Hopefully, it motivates people to want to be kind to one another. We’re always trying to improve here, and I think it’s definitely affecting our employees in a positive way and eventually to our customers.”
Email Story
Printer Friendly 
Quick Job Search
@Nyx.replyAnswerText@