| Work Team Recognition
Day
December 4th is Extraordinary
Work Recognition Day.
Established in 2000, this day is set aside to celebrate those
teams that consistently work extraordinarily well together to
produce significant results for thier companies or organizations.
QPC, Inc sponsers an Extraordinary Work Team Day Recognition
contest where team leaders, team members and managment are encouraged
to recognize their team's exceptional performance.
Submit your story today for a chance to win $200 gift certificate
for the team to spend as they wish. The team's orgnization receives
a commemorative plaque and a letter notifying them of the honor.
Enter your team by completing
the online entry
form no later the November 20th. The winner wil be announced
on December 4th, Extraordinary Team Recognizition Day.
Team Celebration Ideas:
- Dinner for the Team
- Limo Ride
- Bowling, anyone??
- Catered lunch for the Team
- Donation to the company's employee
relief fund
- Get the team together and brainstorm
the celebration ideas!
And the
Winners Are...
2004
Henrico Educational Alternative Review Team (HEART)
The
H.E.A.R.Team is comprised of teachers, principals and coordinators
of alternative educational programs in Henrico County, Virginia.
The team provides a review process for alternative education
applications submitted by counselors and students. The team
recognized that a number of their staff had valuable experience
that could be put to work county-wide. In fact, many of the
coordinators noticed that they were spending valuable time on
the phone with each other discussing applications from the same
students. So, without a mandate from management or a budget,
a team atmosphere evolved with a core group meeting once a week.
“We quickly learned that if we were going to accomplish
what we wanted to do, we needed buy-in from management and students.
So, once a month we conduct educational outreach sessions. We
work hard to reach a consensus, and when we can’t agree,
we compromise,” says Sylvio Lynch, Youth Coordinator
and the team’s scribe. “The result is that our
students benefit from understanding all the options available
to them, and that the school system isn’t trying to jam
a specific recommendation down their throats.”
In the four short years H.E.A.R.T has been meeting to share
resources, they have also tried to take a step back to evaluate
trends related to their work. The team pulls from their diverse
professional backgrounds to provide a unique perspective on
a challenging issue. And the leadership role is shared, depending
on what that issue is.
“Many students in our programs face hardships, but
the H.E.A.R.T team works to give these students a sense of pride
about themselves and their school. It’s a process that
seems to be working for them – and is therapeutic for
us, says Lynch. We have learned that together, we achieve more.”
2003
The City of Norfolk Environmental Crimes Task Force.
The winning team works for the city of Norfolk
in the field of environmental inspections. They attribute their
success to “our ability to seriously communicate with
one another.” According to team members, “People
like to be a part of the team because they get things done.”
“We feel good about what we are doing, knowing that
we are making Norfolk a better place”. “Processes
and laws have been changed, communications with citizens are
more positive than ever. We work hard!”
This team uses positive
and effective communication, and strives to complete their mission
while building relationships within the team and the community.
They practice the skills and behaviors that make a team extraordinary
such as establishing goals, providing an environment where decision
making, creativity, good communication, respect for each and
managing conflict flourish. They’ve been a catalyst to
form additional inspection teams and identified training needs.
They’ve opened avenues of communications for inspectors
and Norfolk’s citizens in response to specific concerns
of code and code compliance.
I was impressed with the team’s
energy, enthusiasm and accomplishments. They love the work that
they do to protect the environment, by investigating acts that
damage their environment. And they love the people they do it
with, their fellow workers and the citizens of Norfolk.
2001
Willaims Employee Learning & Development Team
The ELDT consist of fifteen
people who demonstrate an incredible commitment to their mission
and to each other. In all the teams I interviewed, this team
truly practices what it preaches. From hiring diverse team members
with the same values and core beliefs, providing systems that
support their work (even while working in remote locations)
and measuring performance and value to the business.
I talked with/ e-mailed several
of the team members who were positively "gushy" about
being part of the team. Even though the "business"
had been through a radical realignment, the team was absolutely
upbeat about their role as a business partner. "We have
faced a lot of change and critism..and we have risen above them
all by being able to rely on one another.
The team leader, Michelle Boyes
is described as a "phenomenal servant leader" who
inspires a participative, team environment. She wraps the work
around the people with the talent and disire to suceed.
2000
Criminal Investigation Bureau Project Team
Missouri Department of Revenue
The CIB team consisted of seven volunteers
within the DOR from all over the State of Missouri. They met
once a week for four months to identify opportunities and to
recommend improvements without aditional funds nor staff.
By actively listening to their key customers
(internal end-users and county prosecutors) and considering
every single idea, the team was able to integrate customer insights
into a redesigned referral process for felony violations. The
end result is in a increase in the number if referrals to discover
tax, drivers license and motor vehicle fraud as well as an increase
in successful prosecustions of felony activities.
The added benefit was an opening of communications
between the heretofore "secretive" CIB and their key
customers. Not only did customer satisfaction increase (timeliness,
ease of use, certainty), cycle time decreased, but the team
significantly improved the overall image of the CIB within DOR.
The team attributes
its success to the team's openness and willingness to explore
"a multitude of ideas without blowing anything off,"
the sponsor's intial clarification of the goal and then "getting
out of the way," customer involvement in the process, and
having agreat facilitator to keep the team on track.
|