Here at the College of Charleston, we live by a certain standard: The Cistern Standard.
Coming to campus soon, The Cistern Standard is the College’s new employee recognition program that acknowledges and spotlights faculty and staff who embody the College’s core values, demonstrating them through their behavior and actions. And, as an employee-driven initiative, the program gives CofC employees the opportunity to recognize their colleagues from across campus โ with any title and from any department โ all on their own.
“We have been working on this for a long time, and we are so excited to finally be able to launch the program later this summer,” says Ed Pope, vice president of human resources, adding that โ while the Office of Human Resources is responsible for the administration of the program โ The Cistern Standard was developed in partnership with Subcommittee 5 of the Strategic Plan Pillar 3 (employee experience and success) Committee and the Staff Advisory Committee to the President (SAC). “We wanted it to be an employee-driven way for people to recognize their peers, and to reinforce the Strategic Plan and the College’s core values, encouraging those behaviors in others and themselves.”
Once the program has launched, faculty and staff will be able to recognize one another for one of the College’s seven core values โ integrity; academic excellence; liberal arts education; diversity, equity and inclusion; student centeredness; innovation; and public mission โ through a form on the human resources website.
“Temporary, full-time and part-time faculty and staff may recognize one another and be recognized,” explains Becky McManus, director of employee development and employee relations in the Office of Human Resources, noting that at this time the program does not include student employees. “The hope is that this will make people more aware of the good things we’re all doing every day in our work โ and that they will take the time to show their appreciation for each other.”
Each recognized employee will receive a pennant and a pin representing their corresponding core value. As they are recognized for other core values, they will receive other pins.
For each core value an employee is recognized for, he or she will receive a digital certificate and badge, and a pin representing the corresponding value, which they can affix onto The Cistern Standard pennant they receive upon the program launch. When an employee is recognized for two core values, they will receive a T-shirt; when they receive recognition for four of the core values, they will receive a voucher for the College of Charleston Bookstore; and, when they’ve received recognition for all seven core values, they will receive a glass award and an official certificate. Recognized employees will also be announced in the faculty/staff e-newsletter, on the Faculty & Staff News page ofย The College Today, in digital displays across campus and in HR Minute Messages.
“It gives people a pat on the back that theyโre not getting now, and it’s extra special because it comes to them from their colleagues,” says Pope. “Itโs a way to give employees the power to promote the positive in one another โ and we can’t wait to celebrate that positivity with the rest of campus.”
More details about the how to recognize your colleagues for demonstrating the College’s core values will be announced upon the launch of The Cistern Standard.
In the meantime, keep your standards high!
