Employees Recognized for Contributions

Rufus Smith, recipient of the Governor's Leadership Award for the State of Georgia

A civilian working with Georgia National Guard's Youth Challenge program has been named has earned the statewide and the local level award for leadership as part of this year's Georgia Employee Recognition program.

Rufus Smith, a counselor with the Fort Gordon YCA staff, and four other state employees were honored for their accomplishments at a luncheon May 2 in Atlanta, along with the entire staff of one emergency response agency. 

Two other state employees received honorable mentions.
Taking in this year's awards in five categories are: 
· Customer Service - Kevan Farrell, GAARNG ITD

· Innovations/Suggestions Award - Jeffrey Boyles, YCA Fort Gordon

· Heroism Award - James H. Coursey, 165th AW Fire & Emergency Services

· Community Service Award - Lynda H. Dukes, YCA Fort Gordon

· Team - 165th Airlift Wing Fire & Emergency Services Unit (seven members)

Receiving honorable mentions this year were Doris Chavis, with the National Guard Training Center Billeting Office at Fort Stewart and the YCA dining facility staff at Fort Gordon. 

Smith's nomination touted him as "an outstanding counselor" and his leadership ability is "head and shoulders" above others. His professionalism, innovative skills, and teambuilding qualities has resulted in an improved platoon, department, and academy. He does not permit his duty assignment to limit his impact on the Academy: Smith readily put forth ideas in a non-threatening manner to other departments and many were implemented and resulted in improved efficiency and effectiveness. He leads the not only within the Counseling Department, but throughout the academy. Smith is highly respected by the cadets, his co-workers and senior management. 

"Although not a member of the training cadre, Smith's platoon leader calls upon him to supervise cadets when an unexpected temporary manning problem would arise," the nomination read. "His team leader involves him in all major decisions concerning cadets or staff, resulting in improved decisions. 

"Likewise, his department head routinely depend upon his leadership on wide-ranging topics and he is the designated Acting, Department Head in his absence. Smith is totally committed to the success of the Academy."

One of the many leadership and proactive ideas Smith initiated, the nomination showed, is the Peer Review. The success of this idea resulted in other department staff volunteering to adopt it, and it is now part of the department protocol and is a component of disciplinary process for the Academy. This proved to be invaluable for several reasons, the nomination stated, and changed how the Academy does business, such as:

· Monthly peer review provides meaningful feedback to cadets on their progress, as it relates to behavior and social adjustment.
· Not willing to be viewed negatively by peers, many improved their behavior as a result of the peer review and avoided disciplinary actions. 
· Assisted in identifying behavior problems before they reached staff attention, providing time to use intervention measures and this has improved cadet's chances for success.

Smith, the nomination read, is a proactive leader who possesses an uncanny ability to foresee problems and implement appropriate procedures or actions to minimize or eliminate the problem. In addition to the Peer Review initiative, he also contributed to the designed SWAT (Student Wanting Additional Attention) team. Members of this group are given additional attention to motivate them to make "personal adjustments" in their lives before they get into trouble. This has resulted in fewer cadets being referred for disciplinary action or dismissal. 

Smith has served on the planning committee that resulted in the academy's first ever Black and White Ball for cadets. He also has chaired the committee that formed the Career Track Initiative, which resulted in improving graduation placement rates from 55 percent to 90 percent. 
Smith's leadership skills have resulted in the formation of the best of seven teams in the Academy, the nomination stated. 

He's directly responsible for the high level of team cohesiveness that exists between the six cadres, the teacher, and himself. Working with the team leader, he devised a training program that helped each gain a better understanding of everyone's role and responsibility. His ability to get a diverse group of people to work well together, on several occasions, lead his department Head to consider moving him to help improve weaker working teams. As a testament to his value, several members of his team persistently requested he not be moved and he was not. In summary, the nomination read, Smith is a leaders leader.