Rainbow MWD to utilize excellence coins for staff

The Rainbow Municipal Water District will be providing its employees with recognition coins if those employees meet specified district objectives.

A presentation rather than a vote Dec. 6 explained the program to the Rainbow board as well as to members of the audience for that meeting.

"We're trying to take what we did with the strategic plan and make it part of our day-to-day work," said Rainbow general manager Tom Kennedy.

The military tradition of challenge coins is used to reinforce pride of membership within a unit through the presentation of such tokens. Rainbow operations manager Darren Milner, human resources manager Karleen Harp, and administrative analyst Cynthia Gray worked on a program which is expected to increase employee pride while using the design of the coins to reinforce the district's values and strategic focus areas.

The program involves six commemorative coins. All new employees, board members, and citizen committee members will receive a Commitment to Excellence coin which includes the district's core values, mission statement, logo, and strategic focus areas as well as a map of the district.

The other five coins will be issued if an employee is nominated and selected by management or peer employee groups. The Innovation coin includes the words: "If there's a better way to do it - go find it". The Integrity coin contains the saying: "Always do the right thing, even when nobody is watching". The words on the Professionalism coin are: "Excellence is not an act, but a habit". The Responsibility coin utilizes the phrase: "Seek solutions instead of excuses". The Teamwork coin statement is: "Teamwork makes the dream work - we're all in this together".

The district's employee suggestion box will be used for employees to nominate other employees, and the leadership team can nominate employees at the monthly managers' meetings. Each month a selection panel comprised of two managers and one representative from each of the three employee associations will choose recipients for excellence coins; the target recognition is to provide one of each coin each month. The coins will be presented during the district's all-hands meeting.

"They get a little recognition," Kennedy said. "At the end of the year if someone gets all five I'll take them to lunch or something."

A recipient with all five coins will also be given half a day off with pay and a special "Committed to Excellence" identification badge. Even with that reward, the program's annual expense is expected to be less than $1,500.

"They were fairly inexpensive," said Kennedy. "They cost six or seven bucks each to make. For a recognition program it's pretty cost-effective."