In 2019, LAPL started Take the Lead (TTL), a staff-led internal leadership development initiative inclusive of all staff. At the time, 86% of staff believed LAPL had no shared definition of leadership. Almost 40% did not identify as leaders because they didn’t hold formal leadership roles.TTL’s Recognition Toolkit addresses both issues. It empowers staff to recognize others for embodying specific leadership values in their daily work, while embedding a culture of recognition and a shared leadership language within LAPL.

TTL released an initial Recognition Toolkit in February 2020. Staff input led to a toolkit revamp in 2021. The redesigned toolkit improved navigation. It offered strategies to create impactful recognition statements and sample activities for supervisors and non-supervisors. Digital notecards provided recognition prompts. Badges made recognition for specific leadership values more concrete. A recognition page on LAPL’s intranet made available to all staff the toolkit, a how-to video and downloadable tools.

In August 2021, TTL distributed over 100 print copies of the toolkit, 1,200 recognition bookmarks and about 10,000 leadership values badge stickers to work units. These physical tokens remind staff of their ability to practice leadership in daily work and of LAPL’s shared definition of leadership. Other signs of LAPL’s strengthening culture of recognition include over 200 views of the recognition page in its first 8 weeks and application of the toolkit’s tips and tools in work units and meetings around LAPL.