Leadership and Employee Engagement
NEWSLETTER Vol: 2014    Issue: 02

IN THIS ISSUE

DIRECTOR'S CORNER

John Halikowski
….. from John Halikowski

What is culture in the workplace? Why is it important?  Why should I care about ADOT's culture? I know you are beginning to hear more about that around ADOT and I wanted to let you know why this is so important to all we are doing.

What is culture in the workplace?
  • A set of values that define how employees view their agency, co-workers, customers and constituents
  • Fluid and dynamic – adapting to the current/future needs of the organization, but always focused on customer/constituent service
  • ADOT's culture is good, but could be great
Signs of life = customer service, intra-agency group coordination, external communication, employees working outside the box for customer/constituent service.

Read More
Signs of dysfunction = localized pride of daily work but not agency-wide pride of being in the ADOT family, underperforming employees, conduit leaders.

Why is culture important?
  • A highly regarded culture is defined by employees working at their fullest potential
  • Employees working at their fullest potential are able to accomplish ADOT's mission … and much more
  • A highly performing culture attracts the positive support of ADOT's constituents (taxpayers) and the attention of decision makers (Legislature)
  • Positive public support of ADOT helps our agency receive financial and political support
Why should I care about ADOT's culture (What is in it for me)?
  • Efficient, positive culture encourages career and personal growth
  • With a highly performing culture in place, ADOT can reward highly performing employees with spot awards, merit pay and other incentives
  • As ADOT develops a new culture, employees should ask themselves: Are people working at their fullest potential?
  • Younger workers have a positive place to grow and test their wings
  • Long-tenured, "older" workers have a place to express their professional wisdom, mentor others

Industry

Solar Freakin' Roadways

News from the transportation industry
Have you heard about solar roadways? They may be coming to a freeway-near-you, sooner than you think. An engineering couple from the Idaho has started building solar roadway prototypes and even received funding from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Curious to see what solar freeways are all about? Check out this quick-talking video that explains "solar freakin' roadways."

Article submitted by
Megan Griego, Communications

Growth

WHAT IS THE BUDDY PROGRAM AND WHY IS IT VALUABLE?


The Buddy Program is a voluntary program for new employees to participate in and designed to aid them during their first months of employment. The Buddy Program is aligned with ADOT's new Onboarding Program for new employees. All new employees are to be offered a buddy. The program's objective is to help new employees to feel at home with ADOT by helping them understand the organizational culture and quickly become successful within our agency. The three participants in the Buddy Program are the hiring manager/unit manager, the buddy, and the new employee. Each plays an important part in building stronger teams.
Buddy Program


A buddy can provide an amazing amount of support for the new employee:
  • Aims to ease the new employee's transition into the new work environment
  • Provides a single point of access to necessary information
  • Is intended to shorten the time it takes for an employee to feel at home
  • Helps to decrease the stress of "fitting in"
  • Can provide the right support and just-in-time feedback
  • Can help affirm the decision to join ADOT
A buddy program benefits all participants. For ADOT, the workforce is happy and productive in the short term. In the long term, turnover is lower, recruitment needs are lessened, and a stronger team is built. It is a win-win for all.

Read More
Buddy Process:
Hiring managers and/or unit leaders are responsible for selecting a buddy for their new employee. Managers should hand-pick the buddies and choose people that like to help, share information and also have skills such as leadership and initiative. Once chosen, the manager utilizes the CBT Buddy Program Training and the handbook available on the ADOT Learning Center to inform the buddy of their role and responsibilities. All buddies earn a certificate recognizing their commitment to the team. A buddy is not a substitute for the supervisor, but is someone who can answer the new employee's questions in a positive and encouraging way.

When does the Buddy Program start?
The Buddy Program will be formally rolled out along with the new Onboarding Program. In the meantime, ECD's Executive Hearing Office is utilizing the Buddy Program to integrate new employees this month and we seek to have all of ADOT participate and incorporate buddies for all new employees joining the agency this month and moving forward.

For more information on how you can bring the Buddy Program to your work group, contact Vinny LaBellla.

This sort of support happens informally all over our agency. The Buddy Program is a way to spread this best practice far and wide. Did you have an informal buddy when you first started ADOT? Tell us about it! Email your story to [email protected].

Shout Out Corner:

Facilities steps up

Recognize great accomplishments

Cleaning-Supplies
A sparkling clean Shout Out this month to John Hetzel and the Facilities team: David Castro, James Kelso, James Cox, Celia Demko and Nicci Zumbrunnen for managing the great janitorial disaster of 2014!

This June, the contract for janitorial service in ADOT buildings at the Capitol Complex and several other locations was canceled. Employees received email notification that facilities would be maintaining the restrooms and that staff would be responsible for trash in their work areas. This resulted in several funny moments at the end of the day, as folks toted out their own trash. However, easy as it is to accept that 'facilities will take care of the restrooms' the reality of what occurred behind the scenes to manage the situation was far more complicated. John and his team had to step up to the plate, all working extra hours to ensure that service was coordinated, often times providing the service themselves.
Read More
Thanks to all who pitched in, especially these team members who really went the extra mile:
  • Freda Bilazzo (MVD & ECD Operations support/Facilities) maintained the women's restrooms in the 1801 MVD building
  • Mark Lingle (MVD & ECD Operations support/Facilities) maintained the men's restrooms in the 1801 MVD building
  • Dawn Godinez (Engineering Records/ Facilities) maintained all of the restrooms in the 1611 and 1615 Modular buildings
  • Lisa De La Cruz (Mail Services/ Facilities) maintained all of the restrooms in the Facilities building
  • Matt Bazan (Mail Services/ Facilities) maintained all of the restrooms in the Engineering building
Facilities Building Maintenance Specialists (BMS's) that maintained the restrooms in the other buildings not listed above, in addition to their day to day responsibilities, during the time that we did not have janitorial service. BIG thanks to the BMS's:

David Espinoza, Joseph Nava, Scott Lester, Stuart Westerfield, Robert Lozano, Frank Pearce, Gary Price, Todd Vaillancourt, Justin Ramirez

The maintenance alone was a huge task, but let's not forget that the team also had to find a new vendor and negotiate a new contract in that time. They had help from Procurement staff members Cathy Lonnegren and Kim Shelley, who provided much needed support in that process. We want to let everyone involved know that your efforts are so appreciated. This is team work at its finest.

Do you want to recognize your co-workers and cheer people on? Send a Shout Out! Submit information to: [email protected]

Shout Out for BIG savings:

$3 million recouped in past year for damage done to highway system


During the past 12 months, the ADOT has recouped more than $3 million in damage to the state highway system, saving taxpayers from bearing the cost of repairs. ADOT accomplishes this through its Insurance Recovery Unit that is made up of professionals with an insurance-industry background. These professionals reach out to the party responsible for damaging a highway component as well as the party's insurance carrier to recover the repair costs, which include labor, equipment and materials. This money goes back into the state highway fund. Read more...

Congratulations! Agency Awards

The Maintenance and Equipment Services Groups Win Partnering Excellence

Award
For more than 20 years, the Arizona Department of Transportation has engaged in a formal partnering program with its contractors. The program facilitates productive relationships, establishes a process for amicable resolution of conflicts and has led to more projects being completed on time and on budget. The Arizona Partnering Excellence Awards highlights the best of these partnerships. Typically awarded to  construction related partnerships,  this year two ADOT work groups entered their partnership in the competition and won!

The Maintenance Group and the Equipment Services Group are two separate areas of ADOT but are dependent upon each other. Equipment Services purchases and maintains the equipment that Maintenance uses to maintain the highways. It would be fair to say that the Maintenance group is the Equipment Services largest customer, and the groups cannot exist without each other.

The two groups were experiencing communication issues that caused frustration on both sides. The groups had a hard time with productive conversations to resolve issues, and neither group completely understood the other group's situation.  One of the main issues was that the equipment rates were confusing and were not transparent. Both sides worked on a plan to completely re-work the equipment rates to completely understandable and transparent.

Award
The leadership brought in Partnering and started the process of forming a partnership. The first meeting was somewhat contentious and it was hard to even agree on a problem statement.  BUT – they were  committed to improving the relationship and  continued meeting. The lines of communication started to open up and people felt comfortable voicing their opinion. Along with confusing equipment rental rates, the group discovered that many of the issues were a direct result of State Legislative action regarding a fund that had previously been set aside for equipment replacement – something that neither group had control over. After this information was shared, the team met and reached agreement on a mission and goals, and developed subgroups to accomplish those goals.

In less than one year the team was working extremely well together, and was committed to the partnership and to open and honest communication. They addressed the issues brought forward in those initial meetings and brainstormed ways to solve them. This group continues to utilize the partnering process and educates new staff members on the history of the partnership and the importance of remaining committed. Read about all of the winning Partnerships.

Celebration

Awards and Recognition

Monthly Service Awards

Each month this section will feature the 20+ year awards. Are you interested in seeing all the Service Award information? Awards beginning with 10 years of service are on the ADOT Intranet at ADOT Awards and Recognitions.

20 Years

Employee

Org Name
Mitchell B. Strom Prescott Shop
Antonio Lomeli Holbrook Maintenance
Deborah S. Klein Sales Department
Donna Y. Bentley R/W Group
Gerardo Arzaga Capitol Mall Equip Services
Ida Alvarado Tucson Regional
John R. Jones Office of Inspector General
John W. Gordon Prescott Regional Traffic Ops
Kim W. Bourque Statewide Striping
Michele K Najar Safford District
Rafael D. Escarcega Douglas
Roshunda L. Clay Customer Svc. Admin
Sara Iturbe Service Center
Tim J. Snyder Tucson Reg. Sign/Stripe
Tony P. Castillo Springerville Maintenance
Tyrel D. Cranford Safford District
William C. Beckett Distribution Warehouse

25 Years

Employee

Org Name
Ata Zarghami Engineering Technical Grp
Daniel J. Dudzik Partnering
Dawn E. Buseman Show Low
Gail R. Kelsey Safety
John M. Jaramillo Flagstaff District
John S. Carlson Special Projects
Joseph R. Salazar Roadway Grp
Lawrence D. Hudson Phoenix Regional S/I
Robyn B. Caillouette Procurement
Ruben J. Adame San Simon Port of Entry
Susan J. Bayer Procurement
Sylvia G. Trevizo MVD Director's Office Admin
Virginia A. Goodall Training

30 Years

Employee

Org Name
Barbara A. Sullinger New Entrant Grant
Carol A. Jaime Human Resources
Helen A. Sheehan Driver Improvement
Josie Dominguez Central Permits
Judie A. Bennett Prescott Natural Resources
Lee W. Smith Kingman District
Prakash M. Kamdar Roadway Group
Susan L. Paradis Driver Improvement
Tonya M. Wisner Tucson District
William T. Baldwin Maint. Statewide Striping

35 Years

Employee

Org Name
Cheryl R. Williams Prescott District
Mark A. Hewitt Prescott District

40 Years

Employee

Org Name
Albert L. Lebario Engineering Technical Grp
   
   

Want to know what's coming up at ADOT


See what's coming up and contribute your important events: ADOT Events Calendar
Calendar

the News

ADOT is often in the public eye. Here are a few awesome employee accomplishments from July 2014

ADOT employee Pat Mullen with the ADOT Motor Vehicle Division in Kingman received a high honor in that community last month. See an excerpt from the news story below. Congratulations Pat, it is well deserved.

From the Daily Miner - July 23, 2014
Kim Steele - Miner Staff Reporter

KINGMAN - The Andy Devine Awards are given out each year by the Kingman Chamber of Commerce to draw attention to the people, businesses and organizations that make Kingman a better place to live. 

Since 1978, the awards have honored individuals, organizations and businesses that have made a significant contribution toward the betterment of the community. businesses that have made a significant contribution toward the betterment of the community. The names of the nominees for this year's Andy Devine Awards are in, and the winners will be chosen this weekend for the annual awards.

Andy Devine Star
Film star Andy Devine, who grew up in Kingman, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
"It's important for us to acknowledge and celebrate those who give tirelessly of themselves to the community," said Dora Manley, director of the awards program for the Kingman Area Chamber of Commerce. "They are the ones who help support Kingman, and that's what the Andys are about."

Lifetime Achiever - Buffalo (Phil) Hayden, owner of H & H Printers; Pat Mullen, ADOT Motor Vehicle Division; and Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan. To read the full article and see all the categories within the Andy Devine Award, visit the Daily Miner's website.

Great Customer Service Gets Noticed!

MVD agent Jesse Chavez and his excellent customer service was the topic of the day in July when the 12 News Call 12 for Action Team highlighted his fantastic work ethic.

Jesse Chavez
Jessie was working the window at the South Mountain MVD when reporter Stacia Naquin came in as a customer. Jesse provided such notable service that she featured him in her story, "For a Change, Let's Salute Good Customer Service". Read the full story on azcentral.com.

Let's congratulate Jesse and all the CRS's who go the extra mile to make that MVD visit as smooth as possible. Way to go Jesse, Great work!

"Jesse started with us as our awesome security guard here at 1801, MVD Headquarters. He decided to get into the customer service business with the South Mountain team.  Obviously this was a great decision!" Stacy Stanton, MVD Director.

Ms. Naquin is a big Twitter fan, and she made Jesse the first #Call12AllStar on the social media site. We are so proud that the first All Star is a member of our ADOT family.

survey

Tell us what you think of IGNITE! Answer this quick four question Survey.

Learning

Colors Work in partnership with Corporate Training

Updates and information about facilitated programs

Refresh your knowledge of Colors Work and Communication in the workplace all in one day.

The Colors Work Program refresher class, GEN5147, is now being offered in conjunction with Communication Basics, GEN5232. The programs compliment oneanother well, and together make up a four hour program designed to move your ability to work with others to the next level. Both classes are available for individual registration and the combined format.

GEN5232 – Communication Basics :

This two hour course will provide participants with the fundamentals of communications.  This course explores how people communicate; how to recognize an individual's communication style; how to actively listen during a communication situation; and tools and techniques to improve communication.
GEN5147 – Communicating with Color
Prerequisite: GEN5145 ADOT Colors Work
This class is intended to offer participants the opportunity to refresh their knowledge of Colors Work and dive into using it in their work and personal lives. Learn typical communication mistakes for each personality style and how to combat them. Practice using the work in different situations and get feedback from other colors about how your communication is perceived.
Register for GEN5232 and you will be automatically enrolled in GEN5147. Self registration available the ADOT Learning Center.

Vision

WIN travels to Flagstaff

The WIN meeting took to the road with July's program - Networking - Don't Sweat it and Who Are You? 15 women from all over Arizona attended the special program.

The Women's Information Network, a Leadership, Networking & Education Brownbag Lunch
All ADOT female managers and supervisors are invited and encouraged to sponsor as guests staff that are not in supervisory positions.

Mark your calendar for future WIN dates:

September 24, 2014 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Women in Transportation
November 12, 2014 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Did You Know?

December, 10 2014 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Dessert Extravaganza

April 22, 2015 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
'Wear This not That'

Collaboration

You Said THIS WE Did THAT

ADOT Colors Work

What's your Color style?

Have you noticed that some ADOT employees have included their Color order like the ones pictured above as part of their email signature? This is now approved as an option for all internal ADOT emails per the ADOT Graphic Standards:

Optional: Adding the Color Order Graphic to your Internal Email Signature:

The official color order graphic from the Colors Work program may be used in email signatures for internal emails only. If an email may or will be sent to individuals outside of ADOT, the color order graphic must be excluded. See Adding the Color Order Graphic to your Internal Email Signature on page 4 of Colors Work Website Reference Guide.

To access the Colors Work Website Reference Guide: (and don't forget to save it!)

1. Log on to the ADOT Learning Center.
2. On the left menu, under Online Training, select ADOT Online Training.
3. On the main screen, under General, click on Colors Work Website Reference Guide, GEN 5145W.
4. Click Start Course at the top right of the window. Advance through course until you find the link to the guide.
What else can the website do?

The Nxtinsx website offers us free access to all the Colors Work data for our agency as well as FHWA Arizona. You have the ability to look up individuals and get communication tips for working with their style. Create groups to easily see the overall communication style of a project team and view and refresh your knowledge of your own style.

Sound like too much work?
There's an APP for that!

 If you are an iPhone or Android user, Ntrinsx offers a free app that will allow you to search colors information on the go. Search in the App Store or Android Market for Ntrinsx Advisor. You will need to log on to the Ntrinsx website to obtain the API Key and enter it the first time you use the app, after that it is saved in your phone.

Do you have questions about ADOT Colors Work or using the website? Contact Mj Vincent 602.828.4483. Color Works
This process will only take you about 5 minutes! Then you will have the resource guide available to help you access all the Colors Work Tools.

Programs and changes based on employee feedback


YOU SAID THIS… "We need more ways to find out what all is going on at ADOT. We want to know the great things that other groups are doing".

WE DID THAT: IGNITE is one of the new ways we are connecting everyone. IGNITE is the new agency newsletter that launched in July as a monthly publication. It is delivered by email with a link to the intranet version as well as a PDF version attached. Please print it out and distribute in break rooms for those who may not be able to access the intranet page as easily.  With sections for agency awards, classes, quick stories, and recognition plus lot's more; IGNITE is focused on delivering information to ADOT employees in a quick read to spark interest and engage all of us in all we are doing to unite the agency.  Stay tuned! Each month is packed with information: a Shout Out highlighting really notable achievements, as well as a few words from Director Halikowski on a topic he wants to share with you.  It is your agency newsletter so send us your news!

Email [email protected] today!

Did you know?

Andy Devine Star
The 2014 race was held June 14 and also included a 1 mile fun run/walk.
Did you Know ADOT has a 10K Run Race Event Founder on staff? John Curley has been with Ganado Maintenance for 23 years and founded the Father's Day 10K in 2009. The race has taken place each year since in Steamboat, Arizona - John's home town. This year John placed 18 out of 250 participants! Check out their website at www.runningforlife10k.com. Curley has run in dozens of 26.2 mile marathon's. You can read his inspiring story at The Daily Times, a newspaper in Farmington New Mexico. They did a feature on John and his race this past April. Read the full article here: Steamboat, Arizona Runner or visit http://www.daily-times.com and search for John Curley.

Our favorite quote from The Daily Times article, by Molly Maxwell, is Curley's advice for anyone wanting to run, walk or jog. "Begin with the end in mind," he said. "There will always be obstacles in the middle, but your mind will already be at the end." We think that advice applies to what we do here at ADOT as well.

Thanks John and good luck in your next marathon!

Celebrate Service

ADOT employees have been participating in the Pack 2 School Drive since 2005, gathering donations and school supplies each July. All donations benefit the Salvation Army and local schools throughout the state. This year ADOT staff contributed 2534 Items and $1,221.31 in the Phoenix area and 296 items and $157.00 in outlining areas.

How does participating in community service help us feel great about working for ADOT? Read the IGNITE RESEARCH article (p.10) this month to find out!

Pack to School
Pictured: Top Row- Andy Sanchez (MVD Forms Warehouse) Amanda Lether (MVD Director's Office) Albert DeLeon (MVD West Phoenix) Laura Bryan (MVD CDL-E) Bottom Row- Chaz Sinohui (MVD Records) Paula Parham (MVD South Mountain) Janet Hamlett (MVD SE Mesa) Jayne Fuller (MVD Tempe) Dorrie Wiltberger (MVD Driver Improvement) Laura Brock (MVD TPMSU) Liz Johnson (MVD Scottsdale) Stacey Stanton (MVD Director)

Not pictured: Sylvia Trevizo, D.O.V.E. Chair (MVD Director's Office) Amy Casey-Fike, D.O.V.E. Co-Chair (MVD DOSS)) Thanks Pack to School Team and everyone who donated!

Research

6 Eye-opening Employee Engagement Statistics

An article by Melissa Dawn Photiades from Talent Culture, a web resource dedicated to the world of work.

You know those company videos or blog posts aimed at showing the world just how great Company X is to work for? Everyone is having fun at work, and they're smiling while talking about all the perks. We have come to think of this as what an engaged workforce might look like. This Pleasantville snapshot can be a bit misleading. While it would be great to walk into an office of positive attitudes and buzzing energy, if real engagement isn't present, that office will soon have an order to vacate on their door.

Realizing that there is a difference between satisfied and engaged, is a vital distinction for leaders to establish. Smiles are one part of the engagement equation, and numbers are another. Check out what employee engagement can do for productivity and revenue.
Employers are rapidly catching on to the positive ROI of investing in their employee engagement efforts. According to Bersin and Associates, the current annual employee engagement spend in the US is $720 million. Bersin expects this spend to increase drastically to about $1.5 billion.
Highly engaged employees are 38% more likely to have above-average productivity. (Source: Workplace Research Foundation)

This is a huge part of where we see increased profits coming from. Kevin Kruse (@Kruse) coined a great term to define this ripple effect that employee engagement tends to have on an organization – The Engagement Profit Chain.

Companies that foster engaged brand ambassadors in their workforce report an average of 2.69 sick days taken annually per employee, compared to companies with weak engagement efforts, reporting an average of 6.19 sick days. (Source: Workplace Research Foundation)

Sick days can be very costly in the way of lost productivity and reduced workplace morale. Reducing these costs is just another benefit associated with employee engagement efforts.

"Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals. This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don't work just for a paycheck, or just for the next promotion, but work on behalf of the organization's goals." – Kevin Kruse
That is what true engagement looks like, not just an office full of happy people. While they aren't mutually exclusive things, their distinction is totally necessary. Workplace satisfaction will only get an organization so far.

Companies who implement regular employee feedback have turnover rates that are 14.9% lower than for employees who receive no feedback. (Source: Gallup)

This is a big one folks! There are a lot of estimates on the cost of employee turnover, and honestly, that number is going to be different for each employee, location and company. The exact number doesn't matter as much as the prevention of that cost. What is employee turnover costing you?

There's another powerful statistic. The benefits of building an engaged workforce are undeniable, yet so many companies haven't made the investment yet. This disconnect seems like the opportunity for a strong competitive advantage over the other 75% of companies who don't have a strategy.

The numbers don't lie, organizations are going to need to invest in employee engagement in order to stay competitive, drive productivity and improve the bottom line. There is a fun, employee-centric side to engagement that is completely necessary. However, let's not forget about productivity and revenue as major factors and metrics in employee engagement.