Monday, April 10, 2017
The Library is pleased to announce that it has attained Silver certification in Excellence Canada's Excellence, Innovation and Wellness (EIW) program. The entire department was engaged with this initiative and close to 50 library staff members actively participated in the year-long effort to review and make improvements in six key areas: leadership & governance, strategy & planning, service, people engagement, process & project management, and partners & suppliers.
This is the Library’s second EIW certification with Excellence Canada. In 2014, the Library piloted the integration of the EIW Standard for the University at the Bronze level.
“The Library’s Bronze efforts were primarily about highlighting the things we already had in place, because we already had a solid foundation,” says Sharon Lamont, Director of Organizational Services, who led the initiative for the Library. “Silver required a lot more from us. We needed to address our weaker points and also make some improvements in areas where we felt we were already strong.” The results were tangible. As part of the Silver process, library staff developed a single service standard for across service areas, consolidated library-specific HR information and materials, improved key processes, and participated in training to increase their capacity in the areas of process improvement and project management.
The Library celebrated their Excellence Canada Silver certification during an all-staff meeting on March 30.
When asked what’s next for the Library and Excellence Canada, Sharon responded that the Library will take a break from certification efforts as the University shifts its focus to a university-wide scope, but will roll further opportunities from their Silver work into the Library’s annual planning and priority-setting process.
Integrating the EIW Standard across the University is a key objective under the Strategic Plan’s Robust Employer-Employee Relationship theme. The EIW Standard provides a framework for continuous improvement that emphasizes innovation, wellness, social responsibility, leadership involvement, and a commitment to good governance, among other things. For more information on this initiative, see the Excellence Canada at Waterloo website.
