November 1, 2024
Garrett Genest
Director of Growth | Kudos
In this edition of the HR Connect series, we are excited to feature Garrett Genest, Director of Growth at Kudos. With extensive experience in technology and marketing, Garrett has played a critical role in driving growth for Kudos, an employee recognition and rewards platform.
In this interview, Garrett shares his journey, insights on leadership, and his thoughts on fostering recognition within a thriving workplace culture.
Can you tell our readers about your career journey? What experiences or passions led you to focus on growth and demand generation in the employee engagement space?
I’ve always had a strong interest in technology. As a kid, I built computers with my dad, which led me into a career in tech. I started my career in a technology company that had a hardware-enabled SaaS product, and I got to work on a lot of different marketing areas—content creation, email marketing, and demand generation. One key moment in my early career was setting up our first marketing automation platform, which was around the time when marketing automation was really starting to gain traction. It really opened my eyes to how technology can enhance and accelerate marketing efforts.
As I continued on this path, I became more focused on demand generation and marketing automation, which naturally led me to SaaS and tech companies where I could apply these skills. When I saw the opportunity to join Kudos, it felt like the perfect fit. I had been part of an organization that tried to implement an internally-built recognition tool as a way to strengthen its culture, but it didn’t have the impact we had hoped for. That experience showed me how valuable a platform like Kudos could be, and it excited me to help organizations create recognition cultures that truly matter.
In your role at Kudos, how do you support and empower your team to drive growth while maintaining a strong and innovative workplace culture?
There are two things I believe are fundamental to leading a team: humor and having a clear but adaptable strategy. Humor is an underrated tool—it helps create a positive and resilient team dynamic. When people enjoy working together and have fun, they’re more engaged and motivated. Humor also serves as a barometer for team morale. If you see that your team is joking around and having fun with each other in meetings, it’s a good indicator of positive sentiment. On the other hand, if things are too serious all the time, it may signal issues that need to be addressed.
The second part is strategy. It’s crucial to set a high-level strategy, but it’s also important to define some of the guard-rails that need to come out of that strategy in order to ensure that a team with a high degree of autonomy is moving in the right direction. I collaborate with the team to define what we need to achieve and how we’re going to get there. It’s all about balancing autonomy with alignment to the company’s objectives.
What do you see as the key difference between rewards and recognition, and how does each play a role in shaping Kudos’ approach to employee engagement?
It’s a common misconception that rewards and recognition are the same thing, when in fact they serve very different purposes. Recognition is all about the message—it’s the acknowledgment of a person’s contributions and can come from a manager, a peer, or even a family member. It’s about describing something good that a person does and ideally also describing the positive impact of that behaviour. Rewards, on the other hand, are transactional and are used to reinforce behavior. A reward by itself can carry an inherent message of recognition – think of say giving someone a $100 gift card for a work anniversary, but if you think about it, the recognition is that implied message. The actual dollar value tied to it is simply a reinforcement of the behaviour – in this case to stick around longer.
At Kudos, we focus on putting recognition front and center. While many of our clients do use rewards in Kudos, those rewards are secondary to the message of recognition. Our clients really love this approach, and we can do this because our business is structured in a way that we aren’t making our money by taking a cut on rewards spend – that’s something that’s very prevalent in our space, but we take a different approach because it’s better for our clients.
We’ve found that employees often appreciate the recognition more than the reward itself. I’ve never heard a person say “Thanks for the points.” Instead, they say “Thank you for the recognition.” It’s the message that resonates and leaves a lasting impact. Rewards can help reinforce that behavior, but they should never overshadow the recognition.
How do you help your team develop their career paths, and what role do you play in nurturing their professional growth at Kudos?
When I talk with my team about career growth, one of the key things I focus on is understanding their true aspirations. There’s a common bias in business that career growth equals management. You see this often when you ask people about their career aspirations. Often folks will indicate that they want to move into leadership, but when you dig deeper, you’ll often find out that what they really want is to become an expert in their field or maybe pursue other goals like starting their own business. I’ve learned that not everyone wants to climb the traditional management ladder, and that’s okay.
I make sure to have periodic one-on-one conversations with them, where we discuss not just their current role but where they want to go in the long term. My role is to help create opportunities that align with their goals, whether it’s new responsibilities, resources for learning, or just guidance on the path they want to take. It’s about supporting them in whatever direction makes sense for their career, not just pushing them toward management if that’s not what they’re passionate about heading.
What trends in employee recognition & rewards excite you, and how are they influencing the direction and growth strategy of Kudos?
A big trend we’re seeing now is that companies are becoming more data-driven when it comes to culture. Previously, organizations were mostly interested in platform usage—how many people were using the system. But now, they want to understand how recognition is impacting employee engagement, retention, and satisfaction, and they’re using that data to shape their culture strategies.
Another shift has been in why companies come to us. During the “Great Resignation,” retention was the top priority. Now, companies are looking to optimize their recognition programs, making them more efficient without creating extra work for HR teams or managers. This has impacted our own growth strategy, as we now focus on how Kudos can help streamline recognition processes while maintaining high levels of engagement.
Looking to the future, what personal and professional goals are you excited to pursue in the coming years?
Personally, investing time into learning new creative and technical skills in areas like video and music production, and 3D rendering. I’ve started learning software like DaVinci Resolve for video editing and Logic Pro for music production. Part of this is personal—my wife is a singer, and I want to help her produce videos—but I’ve also found over the years that having different skill sets can often lead to new ideas.
On the professional side, I’m looking forward to exploring new go-to-market strategies at Kudos. We’ve had success with our current approach, but I believe there’s always room for innovation and diversification of pipeline generation.
We want to extend our thanks to Garrett for sharing his insights and experiences with us. His leadership approach, rooted in trust, meaningful recognition, and fostering personal growth, highlights how workplace success goes beyond achieving goals—it’s about empowering the people who make those achievements possible.
If you’re interested in sharing your story and becoming part of our HR Connect series, please reach out to us at info@focusimagepro.com.
Dilara Cossette
Founder
Dilara Cossette is the founder of Focus Image Pro, a boutique demand generation agency specializing in helping HR tech companies accelerate growth. With extensive experience in the industry, she partners with marketing leaders to craft strategies that drive demand, boost pipeline, and elevate brand presence. Dilara is passionate about fostering meaningful connections and sharing insights from HR tech innovators through the HR Connect interview series.
