OUR OPINION: State employees exemplify teamwork

People who work smarter assist both the economy and employment, particularly during an economic downturn.

How?

Because greater efficiency and productivity can offset budget cuts, eliminating the need to cut services and/or the employees who deliver them.

The five teams of state employees recently recognized with Governor's Awards for Quality and Productivity are quintessential team players.

As teams within the larger team of state workers, their efforts and innovations not only aid their co-workers, but all Missourians.

Winning teams recently were honored in five categories. They are:

  • Customer Service: The Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Motor Carrier Customer Satisfaction Team for merging from four state agencies into a unified, one-stop service provider.
  • Efficiency/Process Improvement: The H1N1 Mass Vaccination Team for working together to create a coordinated statewide vaccination effort. The team also worked closely with local public health agencies to develop and disseminate information.
  • Innovation: Puppies for Parole for enhancing rehabilitation in a costeffective way.
  • Technology in Government: Contamination Characterization Through Airborne Hyperspectral Imagery for a cost-effective method to respond to the highest-priority mining and smelting cleanup areas.

Pinnacle Award for Innovation: MoDOT's Diverging Diamond Interchange in Springfield for being the first of its kind in the western hemisphere.

Improvements to infrastructure, public health, public safety and our environment affect the lives of Missourians on a daily basis.

We congratulate and commend the honorees for their service to the state and, by extension, to everyone.