What began as a “bold idea” in the 2017 Bold Ideas Challenge has now come to fruition in Fresno State’s newest employee recognition program, High Five.

In 2017, Jonathan Castro from Technology Services and Matthew Doyle from the Henry Madden Library both submitted bold ideas related to employee recognition and digital badging for professional development. These two ideas were combined into one, and a team was formed through the CAIFE program to bring it to life.

Jonathan Biggane, faculty in the Craig School of Business, led the CAIFE team, which consisted of Nancy Kobata, Military Science and Leadership and CSUEU; Jonathan Castro; Matthew Doyle; Adrian Ramirez from the Career Development Center; Mary Bennett from the Center for Faculty Excellence and Katie Williamson from Organizational Excellence.

This cross-departmental team spent the year researching both recognition and badging programs currently offered to faculty and staff. They outlined the gaps between what was offered to faculty and to staff, and made recommendations to the President’s Cabinet that included years of service awards for faculty, achievement awards for staff, a comprehensive badging program for staff and faculty professional development and a campuswide employee recognition program called High Five.

The High Five program was originally designed by Castro and piloted in Technology Services since 2017. It centers on peers acknowledging one another by giving a “High Five” for things such as excellent customer service, “saving my bacon” and going above and beyond. Technology Services had huge success with participation, and after the CAIFE team made recommendations to replicate this program campuswide, Matthew Doyle took the first step in piloting it over the summer with the library. Similar to Technology Services, the library also experienced positive results in regards to team morale and participation.

The CAIFE team is excited to see their recommendation come to life as the High Five program is now being launched campuswide. High Fives are easy to give — simply go to the High Five website on the Organizational Excellence webpage, click “Give a High Five” and fill out the form to send kudos to anyone on campus. Your message will be delivered straight to their inbox, and recipients will be acknowledged weekly in Campus News. Managers are also encouraged to recognize High Five recipients at their department and division meetings.

In addition to launching the High Five program, the CAIFE team’s other recommendations are also underway. A series of staff achievement awards, modeled after the Provost’s awards, have been developed and more information about nominations will be announced soon. Faculty will also begin earning years of service awards, beginning at 15 years. Lastly, a comprehensive badging program continues to be developed by Mary Bennett, Matthew Doyle and Max Tsai from Technology Services, a program that may be adopted CSU-wide once complete.