Leadership, Community And Values Initiative
RECOGNITION
Making Recognition an Integral Part of Our Culture
Eric Smith, Director of Capital Projects South, discusses how he has been a strong advocate of making recognition more of an integral part of the culture in the Capital Projects Office.
When I started in Capital Projects five years ago, a recognition program was already in place, highlighting an employee of the month in a formal presentation. This program was a great jump start for more recognition opportunities. Through my contributions and that of my recognition committee, there are now many forms of recognition being expressed and encouraged, from the informal on-the-spot “thank you” to the formal Achievement Award.
The Achievement Award recognizes an individual and a team for epitomizing the values of our organization: integrity, teamwork, legacy, innovation and commitment. The recognition committee accepts quarterly nominations; the selected individual and team nominees are then presented with a certificate and cash award by the Associate Vice President for Capital Projects.
In an effort to see how our employees feel about the recognition program, as well as what each individual prefers in the form of recognition, we created a confidential online survey. The results gave us a baseline understanding of how our employees feel about recognition and allowed us to provide recommendations to the Capital Projects Leadership team as to how recognition might be further incorporated into the culture of our organization. We intend to follow up with a second survey to see if our efforts have produced positive results. The Capital Projects Office is a great example of recognition being a part of every day work life, and we have every intention to grow and continue in that direction.
