Innovation Steward profile: D5's Evan Snow

District 5's Innovation steward, Evan Snow, has worked hard to build up and encourage district innovations.

Former District Engineer Ed Bala and Greydon Wright approached Evan in September 2018 about becoming the new steward, convinced he would be the perfect fit for the job. The D5 Safety and Compliance Office (SCO) at the time, Snow had a great relationship with most everyone in the district office and in maintenance. While Evan happily agreed, he was also well aware that he had big shoes to fill.

Since Evan took over as steward 16 months ago, he has really enjoyed his new role.

"I get to meet new employees in every part of the district, instead of just one section,” he said. “I get to talk to and encourage employees at all levels, and I love it! It's so rewarding to be able to help and to recognize the individuals that are creating these innovations."

Over time he has found that, through experience and continued training, he had to learn to adjust to every person individually, often at a much more complex level.

"In order to promote and support these innovations, people need to feel comfortable with you," he explained. As a result, he has learned to become much more approachable.

Evan has also found that most employees didn't want the recognition or awards, nor for it to be publicized. Most people wanted the recognition to be quiet and simply to have their supervisor recognize their success. They wanted more one-on-one personal recognition. Evan learned to adjust to what they wanted individually at their comfort level.

As employees have gotten to know Evan, they have become comfortable in reaching out to him. He has really enjoyed seeing the excitement in the employees when they come to him with their ideas and creations.

"Seeing the excitement in the employees, watching the process unfold, from the idea to implementation, and seeing it adopted by other sheds or districts is truly rewarding," Evan said.

"It would be really great to see more of these innovations shared and implemented statewide, so they are used to their full potential to help make jobs easier and more efficient."

Here’s a list of all of the innovation stewards across the state who stand ready to help:

DMV - Beth Thompson
Administration - Angela Monson
Aeronautics & Public Transportation - Shauna Miller
Highways - Vicky Calderon& Eric Dahlinger
D1 - Junior Williams
D2 - Bud Converse
D3 - Lori Copeland
D4 - DJ Price
D5 - Evan Snow
D6 - Jet Johnstone

Published 01-17-20