The University of Iowa’s Organizational Effectiveness department has partnered with individuals around campus to create the See It and Solve It awards, which empower employees to identify work process problems and form collaborative teams to solve them.

The See It awards recognize employees who identify opportunities for increasing operational efficiency, and the Solve It awards will recognize employee teams who successfully implement plans that increase operational efficiency.

The three inaugural winners of the See It awards are Alyssa Mattson, administrative services specialist with the State Hygienic Laboratory, Carol Adamson, administrative services coordinator with University Shared Services, and Ryan Jepson, clinical lab supervisor in the State Hygienic Laboratory. All three received certificates and local department recognition.

Mattson and Adamson both identified software work-flow applications that would save them and their colleagues considerable time in paperwork as well as lower risk of time lost to confusion and error.

Jepson similarly identified a work-flow application to improve efficiency, but also identified opportunities to redesign lab space so as to minimize hand and foot movements, saving time.

All UI employees are invited to submit their own ideas for improving the efficiency of their workplaces and follow the process for the See It awards by visiting https://hr.uiowa.edu/recognition/see-it-solve-it-award. There are no deadlines for submitting for a See It award.

Solve It awards celebrate teams that have implemented efficiencies previously identified in See It award applications. Support to activate a See It application may be available; contact nikole-mac@uiowa.edu to learn more.

See UI President J. Bruce Harreld and other campus leadership discuss the new awards.